BY BEN RUBENSTEIN

In many ways, Sonny & the Sunsets is the perfect festival act -- the San Francisco band's summer-friendly '60s beach pop is inoffensive enough to appeal to everyone while reserving enough personality to insist upon being more than background music. Fortunately, the stuff works as well in practice as it does in theory; the quartet ripped through a strong early set at 1:55 p.m., pulling a number of songs from its breakout album, "Tomorrow Is Alright." Beyond standout single "Too Young to Burn" (which got an upbeat treatment, and was described as being "a song about kids smoking pot"), strong performances included "Death Cream," "Stranded" and "Teen Age Thugs." Sonny's offbeat humor came through in his song introductions: "We're not just rough lovers," he noted in advance of the witty "Mondrian." Groundbreaking they're not, but Sonny & the Sunsets made for a breezy way to kick off another sweltering day.