SAN JOSE, Calif.--Live 105 radio's annual Not So Silent Night concert is always one of the Bay Area's biggest musical events of the season. But this year's show, at San Jose's Compaq Center on Friday (12/7), provided one of the most glaring examples of how narrowly defined the genre known as “new rock” has become.

Those that have some history with the event can’t help but long for days gone by, remembering when a multi-band bill also meant multiple musical styles. Not So Silent Night was once a wildly eclectic show that offered something for many different age groups.

And we are not talking ancient history here. Back in 1998--a banner year for this concert--Live 105 hosted an extremely funky and diverse lineup that included Cake, Hole, Rancid and Soul Coughing.

Speaking of history, well, there wasn’t much to speak of at this show. With the exception of the opener, all of the bands featured are relative newcomers to the national scene. Most only have one or two full-length releases. The opener, Northern California’s own punk rockers A.F.I., has the longest legacy of any of the acts.

Not that the 15-year-old kids that packed the Center minded one bit. The music was exactly how these suburban punks like it--loud, hard and fast. And bands like Linkin Park [ tickets ], System of a Down and P.O.D. [ tickets ] certainly delivered.

The Park deserves to be popular. This is a hard-working, harder-rocking act with tons of good songs like “Crawling,” “Papercut” and, especially, the defiant “One Step Closer.” The raw “With You” is a mesmerizing tale of a man who pursues his love with stalker-like intensity: “Even if you’re not with me/I’m with you.”

It’s been rewarding to watch this band grow over the year, starting with an impressive headlining show at San Francisco's Fillmore Auditorium in January, and continuing on through the package tours Ozzfest and Family Values. It was obvious from the start that these guys were going to be huge.

However, this was the fourth time that Linkin Park has played in the Bay Area in 2001. It would have been nice if Live 105 could have found a different act to cap off Not So Silent Night.

System of a Down is also extremely hot right now, having the luxury of being both a fan favorite and a critic’s darling. In fact, the band shocked many when its latest album, “Toxicity,” was named best record of the year by Spin magazine, over the likes of Radiohead’s “Amnesiac” and Bob Dylan’s “Love and Theft.”

On a night of high-energy bands, vocalist Serj Tankian and crew provided the most impressive aerobics. But, again, we’ve also recently seen these guys. System of a Down just played the Compaq Center a few months back as part of Slipknot’s Pledge of Allegiance Tour.

P.O.D. inspired some world-class mosh pits on the floor with its punishing mix of punk and metal, and provided some of the more thoughtful lyrics, which subtly reflect the members’ Christian views. On the other hand, Sum 41 was all mild-mannered, bouncy fun, like a Canadian version of Blink-182.

Puddle of Mudd [ tickets ] sounded very retro, like vocalist Wes Scantlin and band listened to too much Bush or, even, Tesla. But at least the classic rock-tinged sounds helped provide a small degree of diversity to the event.

And musical diversity was hard to come by on this night.