POP MUSIC REVIEW : Brawl Ends Dull R&B;/Rap Show : A chair-throwing melee erupts in front of the stage at the Forum, sending thousands scrambling for exits. No arrests or injuries are reported.

“I want my $26.50 back!,” screamed an angry fan, referring to the price of his ticket to get in to Friday’s R&B;/rap festival at the Forum that abruptly ended at 11:45 p.m. when a full-scale, chair-throwing melee erupted in front of the stage.

Some of the thousands of frightened spectators scrambling toward the exits were probably muttering about a refund too, but the first order of business was getting out before things got worse.

Rob Collins, the Forum’s assistant general manager, said the combatants were rival gang members. At one point, one man was on the floor being kicked by another.

The Forum security force briefly contained the brawl, but then it broke loose again a few minutes later. The lights went up and artists and fans sprinted away from the battle scene.

Inglewood police eventually showed up in riot gear, but by then the arena was just about empty. One Forum employee estimated that attendance had been about 17,000. There were no arrests or reported injuries, according to police.

Some of the panic might have been averted if the lights had been turned on and the music had stopped just after the trouble started. But the female vocal trio SWV continued singing, even though the battle was raging not far from the stage. After the song ended, one of the singers did comment on the idiocy of black-on-black violence--a comment clearly ignored by the combatants.

Up to that point, the show had been peaceful--and largely boring. Most fans come to this kind of multiple-act concert to see a few favorites and to socialize. So, during any given performance, many chat and mill around. Interminable set changes add to the slow pace.

With eight acts on the bill, each set is only about 20 to 30 minutes, hardly enough time to really get a performance in high gear. But that short set time is a blessing to artists who are unpolished and have just one or two worthwhile songs.

You have to feel sorry for the performers who go on early, such as rapper MC Lyte, who have the shortest sets and are gone before most of the audience has arrived.

Bell Biv DeVoe had much more time, but didn’t do much with it. The act’s heavily calculated and cliched set, featuring such hits as “Something in Your Eyes” and “Poison,” was flashy but was performed without much conviction or spontaneity. Some females were swooning over lead singer Ricky Bell, who came on like a sexed-up stud. But Bobby Brown, who worked with this trio in another group, New Edition, was doing the same routine years ago.

Gerald LeVert is still striving to be a younger, hipper version of his father Eddie--the O’Jays lead singer--and is still wide of the mark. He has the voice and some of the passion of his dad but not the charisma or the performing skill. His group, Levert, which drops the capital V, put on a noisy, aggressive set marked by bogus posturing. They even managed to turn in a blah performance of “Casanova,” one of the best R&B; songs of the last five years.

SWV’s fight-interrupted set certainly wasn’t musically memorable. It was marred by muddled vocals and many vulgarities--such as crotch-grabbing and lewd suggestions--that came across as awkward attempts to be hip.

When the show was brought to a halt there were still two acts left, even though the concert was nearly four hours old. According to the Forum’s Collins, two acts were ready to go on--probably the R&B; vocal group Silk and rapper Big Daddy Kane--when the show stopped. But, he said, since the show was already too long, they might not have performed even if the fight hadn’t started.

And no one got a refund.