The Blaisdell Arena sold every ticket for the Black Eyed Peas show last night — but it wasn't the only entity you could call a sellout.

There was, after all, the main attraction.

But carping about the Peas transformation from one of hip-hop's most innovative, visionary and underrated collectives to the kind of wised-up music biz mega-stars for whom style suddenly trumps substance is as pointless as carping about Jay-Z rapping with Beyoncé instead of solo.

Being the darlings of music critics is cool. But selling and making millions simply by penning a few lowest-common-denominator-appealing lyrics like "My humps/my humps/my humps/my lovely lady lumps" just makes good business sense.

And so last night in an arena full of Peas fans aged 6 to 64, out went the oh so un-commercial social consciousness of album's past and in came repetitive choruses, suggestive lyrics and the song formerly known as "Let's Get Retarded."

Capitalism rules!

The Peas opened smartly with the percussive ragga jam "Hey Mama," one of their first and best post-crossing-over-to-the-darkside, er mainstream, hits. Their audience primed and appropriately frenzied, the Peas then kept the funk, R&B and hip-hop dance groove flowing with "Hands Up" and "Dum Diddly."

Fashion break for the curious and a Peas roll call for the unenlightened: In a tan driving cap, black suit jacket and loose, pink checkered pants was William "will.i.am" Adams. Sporting a black-and-white designer jumpsuit with a pattern that looked like something artist Keith Haring might have once upchucked was rapper Allen "apl.de.ap" Pineda. Dressed in a red button-down dress shirt, loose jeans and smart black fedora was Jaime Luis "Taboo" Gomez. And starting off the evening in a baby blue track suit whose top she quickly took off to reveal a tight black tank top was vocalist Stacy "Fergie" Ferguson.

There were a few more fashion changes by all throughout the night. For anyone too busy to keep count, Fergie had the most with at least three.

The Peas' setlist clung so tightly to tracks from their multimillion-selling discs 2001's "Elephunk" and 2005's "Monkey Business," it was almost as if the group didn't want to toss anything into the mix that couldn't logically include the sassy, crowd-pleasing Fergie.

The clear breakout star of the Peas since joining up for their third disc "Elephunk," Fergie got roaring crowd approval for just about everything she did. And what she did most often was vamp and grind her derriere into the lens of roaming on-stage cameramen. Always following both moves were cheers and wolf whistles from anyone, male or female, gazing at the two large suspended video screens above the arena offering close-up views.

Fergie even got big applause for getting down and dirty vocally with a brief cover of Guns N' Roses "Sweet Child O' Mine," that included her mimicking Axl Rose's swaying snake dance.

The only Pea that came close to getting the same kind of crowd reaction reserved for Fergie was apl.de.ap. Introduced by Taboo as the "king of the Philippines" before taking on the mostly Tagalog hip-hop-style flow of "Bebot," the part-Filipino apl dropped serious b-boy moves and some studied language skills for raucous crowd approval. He also brought the crowd the closest it came to a religious experience, moving the entire arena enough to raise fists and scream out the song's "Filipino! Filipino!" chant several decibels above the already deafening, typically muddled Blaisdell acoustics.

Like their music or not, the Peas are nothing if not crazy entertaining on a live stage. They can get all faux serious when need be for a be-kind-to-your-brother-man anthem like "Where Is The Love" or treat-me-right plea such as "Don't Lie." But the vocal foursome is clearly at their crowd-pleasing best gettin' stupid. And lest the whole evening focus on Fergie, everybody got a shot at the limelight here.

When not singing, one could catch will mugging or doing the robot for the camera, Taboo leading sing-alongs to 50 Cent's "In Da Club" or Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock's "It Takes Two," and apl doing Olympics-qualifying cartwheels across the stage.

No surprise, Fergie's infectious, simplistic, "Gold Digger"-esque current solo radio hit, "London Bridge," was a crowd favorite. But even more oddly interesting? Hundreds of pre-teen girls (many with their parents in tow) chanting along energetically with Fergie and the rest of the arena on the song's salacious chorus — "How come every time you come around/My London, London Bridge wanto to go down."

Quality family time rocks!

Though making sure to fill their entire set with hits, the Peas saved a few fan favorites like "Don't Phunk With My Heart" and "Let's Get Retarded" for show's end. Dads hoisted babies on shoulders to more easily groove near their seats and moms danced with their daughters in the aisles on both. An electric cover of "House of Pain's "Jump Around" that finally closed the show after almost two hours moved the gathered to do just that.

And yes, all of the expected magic that is really just part and parcel of experiencing "My Humps" performed live was brought out in Fergie's apropos kittenish moves, ample booty grinding and seductive baby girl voice.

Sure, I still hate the darn song. But post-show, I headed home at least knowing I'd sleep comfortably, calmed by the knowledge that Fergie has several dozen other parts of her anatomy she hasn't yet written about to delight us with on her next Honolulu visit. I'll bet girlfriend probably has some mad rhymes stashed away about her uvula.

I can't wait.

Reach Derek Paiva at dpaiva@honoluluadvertiser.com.