No Doubt singer performs newer material along with `Tragic Kingdom’ hits By GEMMA TARLACH

There’s nothing tragic about the kingdom ruled by No Doubt’s fantabulous front woman, Gwen Stefani. Before a near-capacity crowd Friday night at the Marcus Amphitheater, Stefani and her bandmates gave a show equal parts ska fest, spectacle and self-examination as shocking as her fuschia hair.

“Hey, I’m really having fun tonight,” said Stefani midway through, echoing the opinion of the crowd. “This is a treat.”

Ah, so what if “Return of Saturn,” the band’s much-anticipated follow-up to 1995’s blockbuster “Tragic Kingdom, has done a slow slide down the chart. The more mature songwriting of “Saturn” – largely drawn from Stefani’s way-premature mid-life crisis – isn’t as immediately accessible as the band’s earlier saucy ska-pop.

But Stefani, part Debbie Harry-ish punk vixen and part pure pop showgirl, should be commended for daring to reveal her self-doubts and yearning for a more conventional life, including motherhood, on such tunes as a “Simple Kind of Life.”

The newer material, with the exception of the explosive set-starter “Ex-Girlfriend,” drew mostly respectable swaying from the younger majority of the crowd – well, they’ll understand where Gwen is coming from in a few years.

Perhaps knowing their audience, Stefani and her bandmates padded their set with “Kingdom” material such as “Happy Now?” and “Different People.”

No Doubt demands to be thought of as a band, but she can’t help outshining the guys with her star power. Only perpetual motion bassist Tony Kanal comes close to matching the whirling dervish Stefani. Whether doing a demented “I Dream of Jeanie” dance with two back-up multi-instrument musicians or push-ups by way of introducing a ferocious rendering of “Just a Girl,” Stefani was unstoppable.

Kudos to whoever came up with the tour’s lineup. A less creative mind would have booked any one of a zillion SoCal ska-punk acts who – no pun intended – would no doubt be happy for the paying gig. Instead, the show was opened by diverse newer acts nearing the top of their game, Lit and the Black Eyed Peas.

Lit excelled at 45 minutes of tight, high-energy hard-pop, particularly on tunes such as “Quicksand.” Beefy, tattooed A. Jay Popoff, looking like a Backstreet Boy on parole, makes for an engaging front man, though the many parents in the crowd probably could have done without his liberal cussing.

But A. Jay needs to have a talk with his brother, guitarist Jeremy Popoff. No matter how many time you throw up the devil-horns gesture, grimace and cop all James Hetfield’s other stage moves, dude, you are so not in Metallica. Be happy supplying the chords to the rock-lite act of the summer, and giving up clever, well-written little ditties such as “Miserable” and “My Own Enemy.”

The sparse early crowd didn’t seem to know what to make of the Peas, perhaps the freshest hip-hop trio on the road today. The Amphitheater eventually warmed to the Peas, just as they wrapped their half-hour set.