Isaac Slade of The Fray performs at The Opera House in Toronto, Jan. 17, 2012. (Dominic Chan/WENN.COM)

TORONTO - For the last few days Denver citizens have drowned their sorrows in a variety of ways after their Tim Tebow-led Broncos lost in the NFL playoffs.

For pop rock group The Fray, a sold-out gig at Toronto's Opera House was their means of coping.

The quartet (now a touring sextet with bassist and multi-instrumentalist on board) succeeded in delivering a 90-minute set behind Scars & Stories, their third studio effort that's still a few weeks from release. And despite fans not knowing much of the forthcoming material, The Fray churned out slick, polished, melodic pop that while not edgy is still quite infectious.

Led by Isaac Slade – who split the 16-song performance between his black baby grand piano and pacing the front of the stage – The Fray opened with Turn Me On as guitarist Joe King added harmonies to the mid-tempo tune.

“How you doing?” Slade asked, coaxing the crowd to clap along before All At Once created the first of several singalongs.

Sonically resembling the likes of Coldplay, Keane and even Radiohead when Slade reaches for Thom Yorke-like high notes, The Fray's piano pop came to life on the swaying 48 To Go and The Fighter, the latter sure to be a future single and set list staple. The real show stopper from the new record though was without question The Wind, a solid U2-tinged anthem that hits its stride quite early.

“Welcome to the Opera House, we're The Fray,” Slade said before asking how many had tipped the bartenders. Realizing how a large portion of the crowd might be minors, he quickly went back to work with Never Say Never, tossing in a snippet of The Spice Girls for good measure.

Throughout the night The Fray blended the old and new fairly strongly, never repeatedly catering with crowd-pleasers but not driving the new songs down the audience's throat. Nonetheless, singles like You Found Me, All At Once, Ungodly Hour (with King on lead vocals) and the obligatory How To Save A Life all served their purpose.

The group began the homestretch with Heartbeat, the first single. As mentioned on their Facebook site earlier, the band told fans to record the song's performance on their cameras and send the footage to the band so they could make a “mash up” video. On cue hundreds of cameras appeared with Slade taking a fan's camera on stage with him for band close ups. The song ended with Slade on top of piano as the group fleshed out the rather beefy track.

Equally entertaining was Happiness which Slade did unplugged on acoustic guitar and off mic. Asking for quiet, which created a symphony of shh-ing, Slade nailed the song with some help from a girl in front who the front man gave kudos to.

The Fray concluded the relatively early night with Over My Head (Cable Car), wrapping up a club gig that proved arena-sized worthy.

The quartet (now a touring sextet with bassist and multi-instrumentalist on board) succeeded in delivering a 90-minute set behind Scars & Stories, their third studio effort that's still a few weeks from release. And despite fans not knowing much of the forthcoming material, The Fray churned out slick, polished, melodic pop that while not edgy is still quite infectious.

Led by Isaac Slade – who split the 16-song performance between his black baby grand piano and pacing the front of the stage – The Fray opened with Turn Me On as guitarist Joe King added harmonies to the mid-tempo tune.

“How you doing?” Slade asked, coaxing the crowd to clap along before All At Once created the first of several singalongs.

Sonically resembling the likes of Coldplay, Keane and even Radiohead when Slade reaches for Thom Yorke-like high notes, The Fray's piano pop came to life on the swaying 48 To Go and The Fighter, the latter sure to be a future single and set list staple. The real show stopper from the new record though was without question The Wind, a solid U2-tinged anthem that hits its stride quite early.

“Welcome to the Opera House, we're The Fray,” Slade said before asking how many had tipped the bartenders. Realizing how a large portion of the crowd might be minors, he quickly went back to work with Never Say Never, tossing in a snippet of The Spice Girls for good measure.

Throughout the night The Fray blended the old and new fairly strongly, never repeatedly catering with crowd-pleasers but not driving the new songs down the audience's throat. Nonetheless, singles like You Found Me, All At Once, Ungodly Hour (with King on lead vocals) and the obligatory How To Save A Life all served their purpose.

The group began the homestretch with Heartbeat, the first single. As mentioned on their Facebook site earlier, the band told fans to record the song's performance on their cameras and send the footage to the band so they could make a “mash up” video. On cue hundreds of cameras appeared with Slade taking a fan's camera on stage with him for band close ups. The song ended with Slade on top of piano as the group fleshed out the rather beefy track.

Equally entertaining was Happiness which Slade did unplugged on acoustic guitar and off mic. Asking for quiet, which created a symphony of shh-ing, Slade nailed the song with some help from a girl in front who the front man gave kudos to.

The Fray concluded the relatively early night with Over My Head (Cable Car), wrapping up a club gig that proved arena-sized worthy.