TORONTO -- The last time The Cranberries played in Toronto, it was in front of 13,500 people at the Molson Amphitheatre, in the summer of 1996. So you can imagine that fans of the Irish supergroup were more than a little jazzed on Saturday night when the band came to Massey Hall. It was one of about a dozen small venue shows leading up to a larger tour this summer that will include an Aug. 27 date at the Amphitheatre with Collective Soul. Unfortunately, the group, led by the commanding, pint-sized presence of singer Dolores O'Riordan, didn't seem to acknowledge their more intimate surroundings until a third of the way into the show. That's when they finally adjusted sound levels so O'Riordan's distinctive voice could be properly heard over the guitar attack of Noel Hogan (along with a second backup guitarist-vocalist) and the crashing drums of Fergal Lawler and his equally enthusiastic rhythm section partner, bassist Mike Hogan. From that moment on, The Cranberries had most of the audience on their feet, singing, clapping, dancing and pumping their fists to material from all four of the band's albums, including their two-week-old release, Bury The Hatchet. O'Riordan, dressed in a gold bustier (which showed off one tattooed shoulder), black leather miniskirt and matching boots, simply refused to take anything less as a reception. Whether it was turning up the house lights and shouting: "Sing it!" as she did on more than one occasion, or taking off her boots so she could move her tiny frame around the stage and work the room, O'Riordan was a fierce and engaging frontwoman. And although she alternated between playing acoustic and electric guitar and keyboards, she was at her best unencumbered by any instrument. (At one point, O'Riordan got so excited she forgot her microphone on Lawler's drum kit stand just as she was about to launch into the first verse of the next song.) For all of the energy and spirit, O'Riordan can be forgiven for her odd encore outfit of pink cowboy hat, pale pink shirt and dress, pink boots and finger-less white gloves. The set list was heavy on new material, but audience favourites were be older songs like the dreamy Linger, the just-say-no-to-drugs-and-war anthems Salvation and Zombie and the show-ending Dreams. Hatchet was mostly represented by uptempo rockers like the first single, Promises, along with Animal Instinct, Shattered, Desperate Andy and Delilah. But the two new ballads, Saving Grace and You And Me -- both about O'Riordan's Toronto-born son Taylor -- struck a bigger emotional chord. The group was dwarfed by large, lantern-like props -- seven in all -- which made for a striking set, as different, complementary colors shone throughout the show (and, incidentally, forced the concert to be moved from the Phoenix to Massey Hall.) Concertgoers could only buy tickets to Saturday night's concert via the Internet. The show sold out in four hours, so I guess you could argue that that experiment worked.