WINNIPEG -- Looks like all those busking sessions really paid off.

How else to explain how Blue Rodeo -- those much-revered Canadian roots-rockers -- were able to instill their show at MTS Centre last night with so much spontaneous energy, even though they've been at this for almost a quarter-century now?

We're guessing it has something to do with a recent publicity tour that saw the Blue Rodeo gang performing impromptu busking gigs in subways and on street corners, just like they did when they were still alt-country up-and-comers, not one of this country's most cherished musical institutions.

In fact, the boys in the band were apparently such big fans of the format, they chose to open last night's show in a similar style, performing seriously stripped-down versions of their songs for the first 45 minutes or so.

Following a brief comedic interlude -- during which a roadie cued up a turntable to play a snippet of spaghetti-western music -- the band filed onstage and broke into a stark version of 5 Days in May, the kinda-title track from their 1993 disc Five Days in July.

Now, technically, the songs weren't totally unplugged (both an organ and an electric piano were involved), but with the only percussion coming from a brushed stand-alone snare drum, you could pretty much hear a pin drop when Greg Keelor took centre stage for a haunting guitar solo.

At least, you would've been able to if it weren't for all the cheers coming from the crowd of 5,000, who also ate up the hootenanny versions of Rebel, Try, and 3 Hours Away, plus rollicking covers of James Intveld's Cryin' Over You and the Bee Gees' To Love Somebody.

The tunes saw Keelor and co-frontman Jim Cuddy trading off on lead vocal, occasionally blending their disparate voices (Cuddy's clear and pure, Keelor's rougher and raspier) into a heavenly harmony.

And we're sure the rest of the night was just as euphoric, but unfortunately, our deadline rolled around just as the band was kicking things into high gear by dropping their black curtain to reveal a plugged-in, fully amplified stage set-up.

Earlier in the evening, former Winnipeg resident Luke Doucet opened with a 45-minute set of blues, country and rock that was perfectly suited to Blue Rodeo's rootsy, laid-back vibe.

It helps that Doucet -- who's only 33, but is already a music biz veteran of some 16 years -- has been buddies with the Blue Rodeo gang for more than a decade (he was even scheduled to appear on-stage with the band later in their set).

Wielding his trademark hollow-bodied White Falcon, and flanked by wife (and rhythm guitar player) Melissa McClelland, Doucet kept the hometown crowd happy with guitar-heavy cuts from albums Broken (and other rogue states) and Blood's Too Rich.

That said, the set wasn't quite as incendiary as his recent three-day stint at a certain downtown roots club. But heck, even Doucet seemed to realize that.

"Well, it's not the Times Change(d)," he joked at one point. "But it'll do. It'll have to."