VANCOUVER -- Making the jump from club to concert hall seemed surreal for Dido, who set about conquering the arenas of North America starting at Vancouver's General Motors Place Sunday night.

"Last time here we played a place called Sonar," the 30-year-old English singer told the crowd. "Well, here we are... It's all good."

Dido's tour-opening show (with Travis) wasn't the kind that got many bums outta seats, but it worked on certain levels. While only a brave half-dozen fans were inspired to stand for the entire set, Dido and the sextet behind her offered an elegant fusion of sultry trip-hop, pop melodies and the voice that can cut the chatter cold (well, not enough for the prudes in front of me, but that's another story).

Bathed in blue and purple hues most of the evening, the silk-voiced one offered a set weighted with tracks from her slow-cooking debut, 1999's No Angel, and dropped in a few newer tunes that suggest good things for Dido's sophomore disc (due next year). Among the new cuts is See the Sun, "a song about friendship," with a crunching bridge, acoustic guitar picking and a memorable refrain: "I promise you you'll see the sun again..."

It was this kind of warm, fuzzy, heart-tugging, meaningful stuff that soaked up all the estrogen in the seats. In fact, on this night queues for the women's washroom snaked well out the doors, rivaling those witnessed during the recent World Figure Skating Championships at the same rink. By mid-set, most of the guys in the crowd were either checking their wristwatches, or checking out Dido one last time before convincing their partner to head for the exit early.

"You're sexy!" yelled one guy. "I love you!" hollered another. Dido, wearing a blue tank top with "Vancouver" stretched across the front, acknowledged what she heard with charm.

More than likely, ticketholders willingly paid $47.50/37.50 for the chance to hear the singer who made Eminem's last album bearable. "So, does anyone know the second verse to this next song?" Dido asked rhetorically before launching into Thank You, a vocal clip of which helped the Detroit rapper attract the mushy-gushy crowd with Stan (song and video).

Speaking of videos, Dido closed her set with Hunter, whose MuchMusic-ready images were shot during her recent extended stay in Vancouver (she's managed by the city's expanding Nettwerk empire).

Dido's three-song encore began with her solo in the spotlight, on electric piano, for the stunning Do You Have a Little Time. Don't Leave Home (a relatively new "song about addiction") was followed by the concert-closing hit, Don't Think of Me, a song that, for me, comes closest to being familiar in a, "Hey, didn't Sinead O'Connor sing that one, or was it what's-her-name from The Cranberries?"

ROUSING KICK-OFF

On record, Travis tends to suffer from a similar case of, "Isn't that Coldplay/Radiohead?"-itis, but the wee Scots/Londoners proved again they're a band to be reckoned with on stage. The quartet's 13-song set kicked off with a rousing version of Sing, lead-off single from their third album, The Invisible Band (due in stores Tuesday, June 12).

Several songs later they were pounding out the major-chord stomp of Turn, which got heads bobbing in time and gave the band's rocker, Andy Dunlop, a chance to do his high-kick guitar moves with Les Paul in tow. Later in the set, he even accomplished the daring Mic-stand-slide trick on guitar. Rock on!

More powerful than the album version was Side, amped up for the half-court arena crowd.

Sporting a peroxide-tipped mohawk look, Travis frontman Fran Healy raced back and forth between acoustic and electric guitars the entire night. He opted for the former on Why Does It Always Rain on Me? (listed as WDIAROM on the official set list), which convinced many in the crowd to clap and dance along, including the kid in the twelfth row with a fistful of glow sticks.

Between songs, Healy was an engaging host ready with either an introduction about the next song or comedic banter (such as the intro to Slide Show, in which the band's chief songwriter told of his sexually awakening in 1985 with recollections of watching Madonna and discovering "that it's not just for peeing").

In the end, the crowd was on its feet applauding the squall of feedback from Dunlop's warm axe as Travis vacated the stage. One down, twenty-six to go on this tour. (More on Travis and Dido)