LONDON, ONTARIO -- It took 35 years for Fairport Convention to play London, but the legendary British folk rock outfit made the most of its first opportunity.

Opening its North American tour at the Palace Theatre last night before 200 fans, Fairport Convention showed off its new album, XXXV (Compass/ KOCH), to advantage. The 2002 lineup, including guitarist and vocalist Simon Nicol, an original member, showed the playful and virtuoso touches that have been its trademark since Fairport's founding in 1967.

"This is Fairport's first time playing here," said long-time bassist and vocalist Dave Pegg, confirming the historic status of the night. "And it may be our last," he wound up. Pegg's big friendly smile at that notion showed that just because a band has survived long enough to make history over and over, it doesn't have to take itself -- or even its most dedicated fans -- too seriously.

If Nicol, attired in a blue shirt and tan slacks, looks like all the middle-class British sitcom dads, Pegg and the rest of the band were definitely true to the folk-hippie-traditional roots. Brilliant fiddle player Ric Sanders and multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Chris Leslie both sport pirate-worthy hair. Drummer Gerry Conway, with wildman hair and beard, helped Pegg kick proceedings along during song after song from the rollicking XXXV repertoire. Conway and Pegg offered continuing proof that for all its historic claim as a folk-rock pioneer way back in the 1960s, Fairport is one folk band that has always rocked.

So the Fairport fivesome's first concert in London proved there is plenty of life in its "olde" material such as The Banks of Sweet Primroses. That traditional piece is back in Fairport's live show.

There, it keeps company with the rocking dance romance Madeleine, which sounds like Fairport's good-natured bid for an uptempo hit at the ripe old age of 35. Nicol has cheerfully admitted the arrangement borrows a bit from the Eddie Cochran classic Summertime Blues. Last night at the Palace, there was even a hint of Cochran and other 1950s rockers when a few Fairport hips swivelled as Madeleine danced along.

Other songs from XXXV in the early going included Leslie's ballad My Love Is in America and another rocker called The Crowd. Pegg led off The Crowd with a sensational workout all over the bass that made the Palace shake.

Later, on a pacifist tune called The Deserter, it was Conway who provided the thunder. Nicol also helped put The Deserter in context by noting the song could apply to any era, any battle "from Bannockburn . . . to Kosovo."

Not all the stage talk was so serious. Pegg and Nicol used an extra-dry English wit to parry shouted requests for Fairport classics, using their advanced age to beg off a few and promising to get to others "last thing we do on stage."

Opening for Fairport was the Allison Lupton Band, led by the Cambridge-area singer and folk musician who has a charming Ontario way with the same type of jilted-father-in-law British material the legendary outfit owns.

But it was Fairport Convention's long-awaited appearance in that proved a great band is worth waiting 35 years for. (More on: Fairport Convention).