LONDON, Ont. - In an age of nano-second TV clips and instant messaging on phones (whose owners think the world has come to an end when the thing doesn't work), it's comforting to find a band that seems to slow time and calms us down rather than revs us up.

Blue Rodeo massages us with ageless songs and a brand of music that has stood the test of time as the group continues producing hits in their 25th year together.

As their Small Miracles tour made a stop at the John Labatt Centre's RBC Theatre last night, Jim Cuddy, Greg Keelor and the gang brought back memories and tried to make new ones for the mostly sit-down crowd of 3,500.

"If you feel like dancing, come on up," Cuddy told the crowd late in the set. Shortly after, fans starting streaming out early.

With past hits such as Try, Til I Am Myself Again and Five Days in May, on which keyboardist Bob Packwood highlighted his talent, mixed in with new songs off their Small Miracles album, Blue Rodeo plays a concert that sums up their fine career.

While their latest project has some songs that don't seem up to their calibre (Together, It Makes Me Wonder) and some that sound like they belong on past albums, the 13-song collection is still good enough to garner three Juno Award nominations.

Blue Rodeo is up for group of the year, album of the year and video of the year for C'mon, their first single off of Small Miracles, at the awards show April 6 in Calgary.

At last night's show, Blue Rodeo opened in a buskeresque setting, under a street lamp, with acoustic guitars and a brush drum.

It harkened back to the innovative way they released Small Miracles, busking on street corners in Toronto, then piling into a van and moving on.

That also fit their theme of simpler times and a gadget-less performance that focused on their ability to sing and play without masking the sound.

The consistency of the sound comes from frontmen Keelor and Cuddy, who have written most of the group's songs and who met in Grade 11 math class at a Toronto high school.

As Keelor introduced What Am I Doing Here from 1991's Casino, he told the crowd it hadn't all been good times for Blue Rodeo.

"It's a song about the worst night of our lives," he said, explaining they were headlining for seven high school bands in a battle of the bands contest.

Glad a good song came out of a horrible night.

Opening for Blue Rodeo last night was Cuff the Duke, a Canadian rock-roots group that has recently released an album called Sidelines of the City.

Interestingly Cuff the Duke, is being called the new Blue Rodeo.

I wonder if Blue Rodeo knows the guys ready to replace them are the ones they're chumming around with on this tour?