When it comes to the ''talents'' of Ashlee Simpson, the best I can say is that I'm a deeply skeptical agnostic.

Even applying the most lenient standards, the 20-year-old teen idol/reality TV star's show last Saturday at the Tower Theater in Upper Darby was borderline amateurish, though the gushing admiration of her teen and pre-teen fans in the sold-out house was as ubiquitous as glow sticks and Ashlee gear.

The most exciting moments were the four or five times Simpson kept her mouth shut and danced with abandon.

Simpson managed to stay (mostly) on-key for the first three songs, perhaps because her five-piece backing band played so loudly she had no other choice.

But then came ''Surrender,'' which she introduced as ''about overcoming and finding yourself.'' Simpson started to bray, her pitch became wobbly and the video projected on a screen behind her was the most interesting thing on stage. By the time she got around to ''Undiscovered'' two songs later, she was reduced to circling the notes she was trying to hit.

Several hit-or-miss selections followed, with the nadir of the show arriving as Simpson sang a god-awful medley of three songs from the 1980s, The Pretenders' ''Brass in Pocket,'' Blondie's ''Call Me'' and Madonna's ''Burning Up.'' She prefaced the performance with: ''I was born in 1984, so I had to go back and learn about this music, which I love.'' Ugh.

Her fans may find her cute, but one wag cracked, ''Since when has Marilyn Manson been taking hormones?''

Philadelphia band Pepper's Ghost preceded Simpson, taking the stage to the strains of ''Eye of the Tiger,'' then delivering an energetic set of blues-hued pop-rock and several reminders that the group's second disc ''Shake the Hand That Shook the World,'' comes out April 5.

Opening act Click Five's exuberant power-pop and early Beatles haberdashery sparked shrieks from the crowd as the band spotlighted tunes from its debut, ''Greetings From Imrie House,'' which is due this summer and features songwriting contributions from Paul Stanley and Adam Schlesinger as well as an instrumental assist from Cars guitarist Elliot Easton.

The screaming escalated even more during a cover of Tommy James & the Shondells' 1967 hit, ''I Think We're Alone Now.''

Len Righi

…and reconsidered

It felt like seeing a friend on stage.

Maybe it was from getting to know her on ''The Ashlee Simpson Show,'' watching her make her album, dye her hair, decorate her house, go out for Halloween, break up with her boyfriend, cut her hair.

And if you're a true friend, you don't want to see your pal fail.

So when Simpson came on stage last Saturday at Tower Theater in Upper Darby, dressed in a long, embroidered jacket over pin-striped pants and a yellow-and-black T-shirt, you held your breath. And when she started singing the title track to her debut album, ''Autobiography,'' you almost breathed a sigh of relief at how remarkably on key and pleasant she sounded.

Simpson's show was touted as a simple affair, just Ashlee and her band, no backing vocal tracks. Nevertheless, it was carefully choreographed. It almost appeared as if her every move across the stage was guided by an invisible Step Here Next footprint.

But her energy was genuine. She jumped and bounced about happily — you could imagine her at 12 being a fun slumber party mate.

Ashlee's vocals, despite an appealing raspiness, are not strong, and continued to weaken throughout the night. On songs she seemed to be less familiar with, such as ''Undiscovered,'' she varied from being a couple of keys off to near screeching. A medley of 1980s songs by the Pretenders, Blondie and Madonna provided the lowlight of the night.

Still, by letting the audience sing the ''La La'' portion of the single of the same name and the long ''oh-h-h-h-h-h'' during the encore, ''Pieces of Me,'' she avoided the most difficult notes, sparing both fans and her vocal chords, which, if you watch her MTV reality show, always seem to be on the verge of laryngitis.

You don't go to an Ashlee concert expecting great singing. The largely 'tween crowd — dressed conservatively in jeans and T-shirts for the most part — went to hear the songs they memorized from the radio. That Ashlee gave a performance radiating such fun and high energy more than canceled out the occasional squeaks and missed notes of her 65-minute set.