TORONTO - The stage didn’t collapse before they went on it Friday night, so that was a great first step for Washington-based group Death Cab For Cutie.

The group – who kicked off its current touring schedule with a show at Toronto’s Phoenix Concert Theatre in mid-May – was slated to play after Cheap Trick at the Ottawa Bluesfest July 17 when the stage collapsed. Twitter posts from the band members during the terrifying incident said they were okay but definitely appeared shaken.

Thankfully Toronto’s Molson Canadian Amphitheatre gig went without a hitch as a half-standing, half-sitting crowd filled roughly half the venue for the quartet’s catchy yet far from happy-go-lucky alternative rock.

Fronted by singer/guitarist Ben Gibbard, Death Cab For Cutie began with Bend To Squares before The New Year put a bounce in many people’s steps. And from there the group’s guitar-driven approach consistently delivered if not dazzled, mindful a bit more of The Cure’s steadiness than the bombastic bravado of Coldplay.

“What’s up Toronto?” Gibbard asked before the simple, infectious Crooked Teeth, later saying how grateful he was for so many who went in May making a return engagement.

With just a sparse backdrop of four relatively small video screens that displayed colors more so than images, Death Cab For Cutie played a well-balanced set of old and new. A Movie Script Ending and Title Track complemented the sweet groove propelling Doors Unlocked And Open and Home Is A Fire, the latter two from this year’s Codes And Keys album.

Gibbard – like the rest of his band mates in drummer Jason McGerr, bassist Nick Harmer and guitarist Chris Walla – doesn’t hog the spotlight and doesn’t exude rock star ego. But he did have some fun during Title And Registration by finding the camera near the lip of the stage and peering into it for a rather extreme emotive close-up a la Bono. Fortunately he restrained himself from licking or kissing the lens.

While the set list didn’t stray too much from what was performed the last time in town, Death Cab For Cutie excelled on a number of occasions. Whether on the lengthy winding I Will Possess Your Heart, the short but sweet sing-along The Sound Of Settling or on a folksy I Will Follow You Into The Dark, the band knows how to find a hook and how to squeeze everything from it.

Other highlights included the poppy Soul Meets Body, the somewhat angular Long Division, Grapevine Fires featuring Walla on keyboards and Summer Skin which Gibbard said was an “ode to days like this…impending ending.”

And despite the fact Gibbard jokingly sensed some “emotional terrorism” with some girls screaming, “Say ‘I love you!’ back!” to him, the encore saw him receive a unique gift: a doll of former Seattle Mariners baseball player Alvin Davis. Gibbard, a noted baseball fanatic, acknowledged the “awesome” gift before a few more hits brought things to a close.