POP CAPSULES : O’JAYS: STEAM HEAT

The O’Jays’ show Friday at the Beverly Theatre started out as an energetic but conventional soul revue, complete with 10-piece, black-tied “orchestra” and synchronized dance moves. But when singer Eddie Levert caressed the face of a female fan who approached the stage during the ballad “When a Woman,” steam began to rise in the packed house. Then, when he burst across the stage letting out a piercing wail, you could feel the sexual energy shoot through the crowd.

From that point on, the largely adult audience was out of control, putting on a display that would humble even the most hyped-up teeny-bopper scream-fest, as the trio (original members Levert and Walter Williams and 10-year veteran Sammy Strain) ran through its treasure house of classic Philadelphia soul.

Phyllis Hyman opened the show with a passionate display of Latin-tinged jazz-soul in the same vein being mined by the far less interesting Sade.