TORONTO - While she closed with two crowd pleasers in the encore, singer Colbie Caillat's show Saturday night at a half-full Kool Haus showed that she's still a bit of a work in progress on stage.

Caillat, 24, is currently touring behind her sophomore album Breakthrough following the success of her 2007 summery, breezy pop debut Coco. Yet her opening song I Won't off the new album had the performer - backed by a six-piece band - coming off a little bit stiff despite closing with shakers in both hands.

Fortunately Caillat was quick to address the problem, namely her slowly but steadily overcoming a bad case of stage fright in previous years. And with that little explanation out of the way, Caillat and the appreciative, enthusiastic and primarily female audience quickly warmed up to each other.

After the safe, soft pop feel of One Fine Wire, Caillat opted for Begin Again, another warm, island-flavored, roots-pop ditty that showed off a bit more of his voice as she sauntered across the stage.

The performance was also interrupted at times by some brief skits which seemed to deflect the attention from Caillat and more on her crew, whether it was her bassist who unskillfully danced between songs or a roadie who briefly plugged the merchandise booth by wearing a ladies t-shirt.

The surprise of the evening though came later on when the same roadie showed his own vocal prowess by nailing a cover of Bob Marley's No Woman, No Cry to much applause.

Trying to distinguish her approach from a long line of similar female singer-songwriters, Caillat's style oozes sunny California most of the time. The first exception of the night might have been Realize, a mid-tempo nugget in the vein of Sheryl Crow that had the crowd singing back to her rather loudly.

And she definitely showed some ingenuity when she masterfully reworked the Pussycat Dolls' Don't Cha into a well-crafted, refined and soulful '70s rock tune that instantly brought to mind Fleetwood Mac circa Rumors. Considering that her father is Ken Caillat, the co-producer of Rumours as well as Fleetwood Mac's Tusk albums, that comparison isn't that far of a stretch.

Despite the routine shouts of "I love you Colbie," from men in the audience - including one who uttered "I wish my girlfriend was hot like you!" after Don't Cha - Caillat brought the tone back down with the melancholic Fearless before walking briefly offstage for her band to entertain.

The remaining numbers of the main set had Caillat strapping on a ukulele for the toe-tapping Tied Down while the up-tempo Fallin' For You came off quite nicely. Yet these paled to how the one-two combination of Lucky - her hit duet with Jason Mraz - and the catchy Bubbly came across.

Opening for Caillat was singer-songwriter Howie Day. Day's half-hour set featured his signature Collide as well as some strong numbers such as Be There and No Longer What You Require off his new album Sound The Alarm.

Sun Rating: 3 out of 5