You have to hand it to Barenaked Ladies fans. They were there in the early days, weathered the storm of the band's meteoric rise in popularity and are still hanging in there now that the Ladies aren't so huge in Canada any more. This wacky and talented group is the true alternative - there isn't another band anywhere that does what the Ladies do. And thank goodness for that. Thursday at the Jubilee Auditorium, Canada's turbo-nerds kept a loyal crowd of 1,800 wondering what their greatest talent is - making you laugh yourself silly, or displaying such impressive musical skill as to make your jaw drop. Surrounded by a pirate ship motif - in honor of the band's new album, Born on a Pirate Ship - the band entered the stage to a sea chanty before launching the song called A. Singer Steven Page, resplendent in his Ÿber-geek uniform of a plaid shirt and shorts, proved again to be an excellent vocalist. And did he ever have the "moves" - the guy has transformed spazziness into a fine art, perhaps even into a unique form of modern dance. And then the real yuk-fest started - barely three songs into the show. For at least 10 minutes, the band had the crowd in stitches singing the praises of the Butterdome and West Edmonton Mall. The portly Tyler Stewart even came out from behind his drum kit to wow the crowd with his version of modern dance. There wasn't a dry eye in the house. The spectacle continued in this manner for almost two hours: Bouncy songs from one of three quirky albums, greeted with cheers of recognition; impressive feats of vocals and musicianship, cut to Page and co-front man Ed Robertson's Rowan and Martin-like schtick. The "new" Lady, keyboardist Kevin Hearn, fits in just fine, as nerdy, easygoing and talented as any member of this musical clown troupe. The crowd was Silly Putty in its hands. The big hit, If I Had $1,000,000, saw boxes of Kraft Dinner flying onto the stage on cue with the appropriate lyric, one nearly pegging Stewart right in the head. After chiding the crowd, Page filled his mouth with raw macaroni and muffled his way through the rest of the song. The show ended with a hilarious rap medley that included Alanis Morissette's You Oughta Know. Geez - was this a Ladies concert or a preview of Weird Al's show tonight? The Ladies picked a winner for the opening act - Sandbox, hailing from New Glasgow, N.S. After a shaky start, the band easily won the crowd over with its melodic and winsome brand of rock 'n' roll.