did they know that would be the highlight of the night. Once Hill finally made her appearance, fronting a solid 14-piece band that deserved far better than this, things began to unravel. She opened with a jammed-out, improvised number that featured almost no real lyrics and zapped whatever wind remained in the crowd's sails.

The 32-year-old vocalist then turned to 1998's landmark "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" a work that, amazingly, still stands as her most recent studio effort for a garbled version of "Lost Ones." Her voice was terrible, so harsh, strained and unlike what one hears on the masterful "Miseducation" CD. She also sounded out of shape, huffing and puffing after only a few songs.

But it wasn't just her voice that was shaky. Hill stumbled about the stage and, at one point, actually fell flat on her back which brought into question exactly what the singer had been doing backstage during the long delay. Hill blamed her stage fall on her high heels and, later in the show, took the time to assure the crowd that she was sober.

Assuming she was telling the truth, that's one less excuse Hill has for her terrible outing, which included shoddy and uninspired vocal performances on such formerly great "Miseducation" tunes as "To Zion" and "Final Hour." The singer had somewhat better luck with the material from her old band, the Fugees. Her voice was brittle and weak on "How Many Mics," but she finally started to get in the swing of things with "Fu-Gee-La" and "Ready or Not.

" By that time, however, the once-capacity crowd had dwindled down to half a house. Those who left early missed Hill's new song, "Lose Myself," featured on the "Surf's Up" soundtrack. It's a pretty good tune, but the singer wrecked it in concert by stretching it out far beyond its recommended dosage.

In all, Hill didn't manage to provide one good reason why locals should remain in her fan camp. I'd like to tell you different, but that would clearly be a "miseducation" of the readers. Write music critic Jim Harrington at jharrington@angnewspapers.

com. For more live music coverage, visit the Concert Blog at http://www.insidebayarea.

com/music. did they know that would be the highlight of the night.