For those about to rock: We salute you.

Godsmack's meathead-friendly, U.S. Navy-plugging nu-metal may not be the most original or the most intellectual music in the world, but when the New Englanders entered the Bryce Jordan Center to the sounds of AC/DC's 21-gun salute Friday night, the band did indeed rock.

The band's performance was hallmarked by frontman Sully Erna's growling vocals, Tony Rombola's high-powered guitar and some slick showmanship by drummer Shannon Larkin.

For a band that features very few lyrical themes outside of anger, rage and hatred, Godsmack did a fine job of injecting variety into its set. The main highlight of the show was a drum solo duel between Erna -- who, despite his vocal and lyrical shortcomings, can really handle the skins -- and Larkin.

The night seemed to be doomed when opening bands SOiL and Shinedown had issues with their microphones, but fortunately for the Godsmack-faithful, the main set went off without a hitch.

Erna kept the crowd at a high energy throughout the show, never staying in one part of the stage for too long. Climbing up on platforms that appeared to be straight out of every '80s-hair-metal video ever made, he and his band mates played plenty of their radio rock hits punctuated by pyrotechnics and bursts of flames coming up from underneath the stage.

Many of the songs were accompanied by often-creepy videos on a projector screen behind the band. The videos ranged from dull and confusing. -- "Livin' In Sin," which featured images ranging from rampant drug use and violence to Pope John Paul II and Hitler -- to the unintentionally hilarious: a 15-minute rendition of "Keep Away," featuring repeating images from old vampire movies.

Despite the flashy stage setup and the band's willingness to go all out, the performance did have its flaws. After playing its most recognizable song, "Awake," --you know, the one from the Navy commercial -- the band sedated an amped-up crowd with a dreary, sludgy performance of "One Rainy Day."

Late in the set, Erna also aggressively addressed those few in the crowd who were still in their seats, imploring them to through a series of insults and yells to stop being lazy. Using the "go away" chorus from the band's first big hit, "Whatever," Erna gave the squatters an ultimatum to get up or get out, to the delight of almost all the standing members of the crowd.

The stunt could be considered alienating and just plain rude, but Erna knows his fan base and does a great job of giving the people what they want.

Speaking of giving the people what they want, the crowd reached its peak when the band went into a medley of karaoke-style classic rock covers, including Black Sabbath's "War Pigs" and Led Zeppelin's "Moby Dick"-- which coincidentally has no vocals anyway.

On the flip side, the band took a short break to defer to a classical-style acoustic guitar solo by Rombola. Something tells me the fans weren't there to see any Yngwie Malmsteen-esque guitar virtuosity.

But on the whole, Godsmack delivered a very energetic performance and rarely seemed satisfied to go through the motions. The band's fervor for putting on a good show shined through, as the music failed to fade out until deep into the cold Friday night. Even after finishing the set, the band mates lingered onstage to play catch with some leftover drumsticks.

Sure, nu-metal is severely lacking in some critical musical principles, but Godsmack took big dumb guitar rock to the limit Friday night. The band lived up to the kind lyrics of AC/DC and delivered the rock. And the BJC crowd certainly saluted.