TORONTO - The Black Crowes didn't have that many hits, so it would have been nice had they played them all last night.

They didn't play Hard To Handle.

They didn't play Jealous Again.

They didn't play She Talks to Angels.

They didn't get around to Twice As Hard until almost two hours into their concert at Massey Hall.

And their encore consisted of one song: John Lennon's Instant Karma.

The Crowes did a nice job with it, actually. But it still was an odd choice, given the many unmined nuggets from their own repertoire.

The Black Crowes always have seemed a little high on themselves, and that's fine, since arrogance is a big part of rock and roll.

But one of the main purposes of arrogance is to annoy the people who don't like you, not the people who do.

Led by the Brothers Robinson (Chris, a.k.a. Mr. Kate Hudson, on vocals and Rich on guitar), the Black Crowes are touring again for no particular reason that we can deduce. Commercially they're about as hot as Hudson's acting career.

In a way that's a shame, since the Crowes had a pretty good bluesy, Southern-rock, hippie-wardrobe thing going back in their heyday.

But that was 15 years ago. Their commercial radar has been on the fritz for a long time.

Tiny Massey Hall was about 25% empty when the band took the stage last night, but the venue slowly filled to near-capacity. That usually means the scalpers cut their losses and held a garage sale.

The current approach of the six-member band, which has the bulk of its original members back, was in evidence a couple of songs into the proceedings: Long solo after long solo after long solo.

Guitar, keyboards, more guitar, drums. Does anyone in the stands want to have a go, too?

Chris Robinson still is a fairly charismatic frontman with a good set of pipes, but he went through several

10-minute stretches where he had absolutely nothing to do except hop and clap. He was reduced to bit-player status and had to pretend he was enjoying it.

Every time Chris stepped away from his mike and stood in front of the drum kit, you almost could hear at least half the audience moaning, "Oh no, here we go again."

This particular style still appeals to some music fans, presumably. Like, if you're old enough to have attended Woodstock in 1969 and your lasting impression was, "You know, those three days of music could have used a few more interminably long solos."

The show last night had the feel of a rehearsal. A good-natured rehearsal with some excellent musicians, mind you, but a rehearsal nonetheless.

"Any time you can play a couple of hours of music in a beautiful venue that doesn't have a rave afterward, that's great," Chris Robinson said early in the proceedings. "I'm not saying Ecstasy is bad, but if it makes you listen to that type of music, it must be evil."

A funny line, for sure. But one might ask Robinson, "What drug does one need to endure the type of music your band is playing these days?"