Commercial Hits Fill ‘Radio Disney’

“But first, a word from our sponsor ... “

An event such as Sunday’s “Radio Disney Live!” festival in Irvine makes it tough to distinguish between musical performance and sales pitch.

So jammed was it with cross-promotional marketing that, in some cases, there was no distinction.

Mini-rapper Aaron Carter, who topped the roster of five Radio Disney favorites that each played brief, kid-friendly sets, plugged big brother Nick Carter’s Backstreet Boys’ upcoming tour.

The Baha Men, whose hit “Who Let the Dogs Out” has given them a new niche in teen pop after two decades playing Caribbean-soaked pop-rock, did their bit to promote the recent DVD release of Disney’s “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” by changing the chorus to “Who let Snow White out?”

The teens and preteens, predominantly girls, who came close to filling the 16,000-capacity Verizon Wireless Amphitheater, hardly noticed or minded amid the festival’s barrage of plugs for various Disney TV series, films and products at booths filling the concourse outside the amphitheater.

During the first half of the 21/2-hour concert, performances by Hoku, Krystal and Myra illustrated two approaches to youth pop.

Myra and Krystal each sang solo over thumping, dance-minded backing tracks, with Myra the strongest singer of the day’s female contingent.

Hoku, the daughter of Hawaiian lounge-pop legend Don Ho, was a bit wobbly when it came to vocal pitch. Yet she pumped more spirit and musical celebration into her set by strapping on a guitar and fronting a scrappy, five-piece rock band in the bubbly Go-Go’s tradition.

And now, back to our program.