TORONTO -- Borrowed '70s riffs and glass-shattering, operatic vocals. A Peter Frampton look-alike in three skimpy spandex outfits with pants cut lower than Paris Hilton's. A proficient run through the catalogues of Thin Lizzy, AC/DC, Queen and Boston. High jumps, arm-waving, clapping and chanting from a full, ecstatic house.

This is The Darkness live, and whether you find it rad, fab, surreal or horrifying probably depends on your age and level of cynicism.

Those who actually remember this kind of thing from 20 or 30 years ago undoubtedly felt as if they had somehow walked into the filming of Spinal Tap 2 at the Phoenix Monday night -- everything was there but the Stonehenge set and the dancing midgets.

But Britain's latest chart-topping exports took aim at the Canadian market with a show so full of exuberance and good cheer -- and so free of ironic nodding, winking and tongues in cheeks -- that it was hard not to be swept up by it all.

Darkness singer/guitarist Justin Hawkins and his guitarist brother Dan have clearly been studying AC/DC's Young brothers since they learned to walk and talk, and consequently they've got the moves and the riffs down pat.

Bassist Frankie Poullain and drummer Ed Graham provide a rock-solid rhythm section. Because they've done their homework, practised together and injected their performance with all the energy they've got, the eerie familiarity of The Darkness' music takes a back seat to the sheer guilty pleasure of watching it being played.

On songs like Love Is Only A Feeling, Friday Night and the bizarre occult dog story Black Shuck, Hawkins and co. successfully aroused the crowd to clapping along (is this Toronto?) and chugged across the stage with infectious enthusiasm.

And why not? Their debut album, Permission To Land, has just gone gold in Canada, as Hawkins announced from the stage, and earned four Brit award nominations.

Hawkins pumped the crowd up further by asking whether they wanted to hear the sanitized American version of Get Your Hands Off Of My Woman, or the original (which adds "motherf-----"), to predictably loud response. By the time they got around to playing their one real bona fide rock hit, I Believe In A Thing Called Love, the audience was belting out the ridiculous falsetto chorus and jumping up and down with their fists in the air.

Whether or not The Darkness can build a career of more than one album is up for debate, but give them credit for breaking through the notorious local jadedness for at least one night.

JAM! Rating: 3.5 out of 5