LONDON, Ont. - Touring in support of their just-released second album -- the critically acclaimed Out of Exile -- Audioslave headlined at the John Labatt Centre last night before a near-capacity crowd of 7,000 plus.

From the moment the ocean-scene curtain dramatically fell to the floor, the fans were on their feet and remained there for the duration.

Leather-lunged singer and lyricist Chris Cornell hails from Soundgarden, one of the biggest and most ambitious of the Seattle grunge bands. Guitarist extraordinaire Tom Morello hails from Rage Against the Machine, as does Audioslave's relentless rhythm section of bassist Tim Commerford and drummer Brad Wilk

Fears that Audioslave was going to be a one-off supergroup were put to rest with the release of Out of Exile, seen by most as a real advance on their accomplished first disc, which racked up sales over 5 million in the three years since its release.

With two solid albums of their own to firmly establish their current identity, in concert Audioslave now have the confidence to reach into their various musical pasts and pull out some earlier highlights from the heydays of Soundgarden, Rage Against the Machine and Cornell's other supergroup/side project, Temple of the Dog.

To be sure, they opened with a barrage of Audioslave material, warming up the crowd with the first track from the current album, the blistering anti-war anthem Your Time Has Come. This was followed by Set It Off from the first eponymous album and then a trio of the newer songs, the darkly whimsical Doesn't Remind Me, Out of Exile and Be Yourself.

Although you might think it pointless with music that is amplified this loudly, Cornell constantly exhorts the audience to sing along with him and sometimes the results are strangely moving, as they were last night when 7,000 massed voices joined in to sing along with the chorus: "Be yourself, it's all that you can do."

On many occasions last night I sensed that for all their fury and fire, Audioslave is approaching a kind of populism redolent of U2. This is one highly regarded band that invites its audience to come close and concluding their first-ever Canadian tour in London, Cornell expressed real affection for the reception the band has received in this country. His gratitude was silently seconded by Wilk at the drums, who placed a hand over his heart and bowed.

Last night's generously proportioned show got underway with two opening acts, 30 Seconds to Mars and Seether. Like Keanu Reeves with Dogstar and Russell Crowe with 30 Odd Foot of Grunts, actor Jared Leto (who first imprinted himself on teenage girls' hearts with an ongoing part in My So-Called Life) seems to face an uphill battle in garnering serious respect for his band. Currently promoting their second album, A Beautiful Lie, 30 Seconds to Mars were charmless, vulgar and loud.

Next up was southern California's Seether, also promoting their second album, Karma and Effect. Other than frontman Shaun Morgan's romance with Evanescence's Amy Lee (a love match commemorated in their hit duet Broken), Seether is best known as a sort of poor man's Nirvana, a conception they didn't do a thing to shake by closing with a so-so cover of Nirvana's Drain You. Certainly Seether is up to more than 30 Seconds to Mars and in a couple of gentler numbers showed some potential that could be developed.

But last night's audience was there for Audioslave (the crowd in the hall seemed to double just before they came on) and it was not disappointed.