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In concert at the N Club on Friday night, Elliott Yamin breezily evoked various soul stars from the 1970s, coming off like a smooth, supple-voiced hybrid of Stevie Wonder, Kool and the Gang and his avowed hero, Donny Hathaway.

You may recall Yamin as the third-place finisher in the fifth season of "American Idol." He was a favorite of the notoriously hostile Simon Cowell, who declared him "potentially the best male vocalist" ever to appear on the show.

Over the course of his hourlong set before 400 rabid fans, Yamin demonstrated why Cowell made such an extravagant claim. He came off as a capable entertainer — earnest, good-hearted and, most of all, talented. Yamin’s very presence onstage, combined with his controlled yet limber soul-man delivery, elicited screams of admiration from smitten female fans.

However, Yamin lacked much material of distinction, and the whole enterprise was sprinkled with too much Los Angeles entertainment-industry fairy dust. His backup singer, a portly dude in an argyle sweater vest and dark shades who shook his percussion gizmos a little too excitedly, accentuated the aura of artifice onstage. The entire group would sometimes clap their hands over their heads to kick off a tune before delving into another plastic pop-soul groove to which guys in starched shirts and their gaudily attired arm candy would shake their booties.

Yamin did have on hand a good guitarist who occasionally provided an element of real rock beyond the stagy pantomime. On "Take My Breath Away," Yamin and band recalled the similarly soul-minded 1980s band Simply Red. The show opened and closed with two of his funkier numbers, and the encore of the Leon Russell-penned "A Song for You" let Yamin show off his vocal chops in a nearly

a cappella setting.

More pluses: A Type 1 diabetic since childhood, Yamin plugged National Diabetes Awareness Month and even showed the crowd his insulin pump for emphasis. And he didn’t sing anything from the album of seasonal music he released last month through Target.

Yamin was preceded by two other well-received acts, Josh Hoge and The Last Goodnight.

A promising talent, Hoge was more acoustic and low-key, while The Last Goodnight epitomized the sorry state of commercial rock as virtual self-caricature. With lyrics such as "Don’t stop/Don’t change/You’re beautiful," their songs could not have been slighter or more hackneyed.

The singer, whose peaked hair made him resemble U2’s Bono attired for Halloween as comedian Martin Short’s Ed Grimley character, bounded onstage as if fired from a spring-loaded device. There was much aerobic movement, clapping of hands over heads and playing of faux rock music that seemed as contrived and calculated as the group members’ scruffy-preppie attire.

Parke Puterbaugh is a freelance contributor.