LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — It wasn't until the radio hit "The Down Town," played late in Days of the New's sold-out House of Blues concert Wednesday night, that frontman Travis Meeks alluded to firing the band's original lineup.

"I'm not much of a punk, man," the 20-year-old singer said. "I just do what I want. These are the new musicians. Out with the old, in with the new."

Meeks made use of a 30-piece orchestra on the band's ambitious, self-titled second album, released in August — a project that took him over a year to record in his Louisville, Ky., home studio.

But live, he took a minimalist route — and was met by an enthusiastic audience response.

The curtain opened on the musicians hired to replace the bandmembers that Meeks dismissed last year ostensibly for resisting his progressive musical vision.

There was nary a classical instrument in sight.

As Meeks appeared onstage, guitarists Craig Wagner and Doug Florio produced the galloping acoustic-guitar riff that introduces "Flight Response" from the new album. The singer — his hair flowing down below his shoulders — was clad in black jeans and a dark, see-through shirt. He stalked the stage in a street-punk slouch as, nearby, stunning backup singer Nicole Scherzinger danced and twirled around, waving red-tipped flashlights in each hand.

Unfortunately, the angel-voiced contributions that Hawaiian-born Scherzinger had made to the studio material were often inaudible due to faulty microphones. But the lead singer made up for it by dramatically screaming one song's lyrics into a bullhorn.

The band launched into "Shelf in the Room" (RealAudio excerpt) from the first Days of the New album. At one point during the song, Meeks, held his crotch with one hand and a can of beer in the other. This prompted one mini-dress-clad audience member to jump onstage. Meeks gently admonished her ("You're gonna hurt yourself") as he tried to help her offstage, but she stood her ground until security whisked her away.

The Celtic-style "Provider" was next, with Scherzinger pounding out the song's rhythm on her chest and bare stomach as Meeks crooned, "I don't want to be afraid/ I don't want to fear this/ I could see it your way — Yeah!"

Meeks continued to stalk the stage as keyboardist Kimmet Cantwell reproduced various orchestral passages from the album. By this time, it was clear that extravagant arrangements from the CD would be sacrificed for a more stripped-down rock sound that wasn't far removed from the style the band utilized on its first LP.

"Not the Same" was followed by the crowd-favored "Enemy" (RealAudio excerpt), which employed a sampler for the song's call-and-response "Yeah, yeah" hook and repeating banjo riff.

When the set ended, an untitled sound collage from the new disc could be heard over the sound system. Then the band returned to the stage to play "The Real."

Meeks, now shirtless, knelt at the edge of the stage before throwing his beer into the air, throwing over a microphone stand and hitting the floor in a dramatic pose that recalled the histrionics of the Doors' Jim Morrison.

"I can do anything I want," Meeks said when he stood up. "If Michael Jackson can change his face, then I can do anything I want."

And what Meeks wanted was to play "Touch, Peel and Stand," the last song of the evening.

"He's a genius," concert-goer Elsa Wood, 30, said. "His world is music. That's his motivation. He doesn't see Days of the New as a band. He sees it as a concept. It evolves."