Everything was gravy for the remaining Doors in 2000 when they came together for an episode of VH1's "Storytellers."

The two guys brought in a bevy of guest singers to replace long-dead Jim Morrison, and the Cult's Ian Astbury emerged as the show's fascination, with the similarities to the original that bordered on the eerie.

At that point it was hardly a comeback.   One performance won't get anyone screaming about trampling a band's legacy.   But three years later, with Astbury out front, the Doors have crossed the line into the real band zone by writing new music and embarking on a big tour, which pulled into the Chronicle Pavilion at Concord on Friday night.

The odds automatically pile up against a band either making a comeback or replacing that band's legendary frontman.   The Doors are doing both, creating huge questions.   Are they too old?   Can they still play?   Does the new guy stack up?

The Doors of the 21st Century, as they now call themselves, answered those questions Friday night.   In order: no, yes and very much so.   They did their job about as well as could be expected.   Perhaps even better.

Yet in the end, it still wasn't enough.   It'll never be enough.

Jim Morrison was too big, and the band waited too long.   By the time they got around to coming back, 32 years after Morrison's death at age 27, the legendary singer was entrenched in American culture as firmly as James Dean.   No matter how vital the two remaining original members -- Ray Manzarek and Robbie Krieger -- are and no matter how dead-on Astbury can be, the whole thing absolutely reeks of something that should be playing a casino.

That may explain why the Pavilion was half-empty on a gorgeous summer night.   As band co-founders, Manzarek and Krieger were the architects of the Doors musical identity.   And they reproduced it with a surprising ease, particularly Krieger who, despite looking frail and older than his 57 years, seemingly becomes all-powerful once he straps on his guitar.

But it's more a testament to Morrison's missing magnetism than anything these new Doors lack that the whole thing felt wrong.

The band got the Morrison thing right out in the open first thing, projecting a iconic and large Morrison image on the video screen.   Then they smartly blasted through signature songs to get a crowd buzz going early, with dead-on versions of "Roadhouse Blues," "Break on Through," "Love Me Two Times" and "When the Music's Over."   It was an absolute guilty pleasure to witness Astbury, who sports a Morrison haircut, at work.   Squint and listen hard and one could almost believe he was Morrison.   There's no avoiding it.

But he wasn't.   Those in the mostly middle-aged crowd standing and singing along have obviously gotten past it.   Others just can't.

The guys should get credit for writing some new material, which predictably sounds like old Doors outtakes.   Krieger and Manzarek are still magnetic musicians, trading licks all night and obviously loving it all.

No one's saying they shouldn't get out and play the iconic music they helped create.   But they'll always have a problem that, ironically, comes from being in one of the biggest rock bands ever.