WINNIPEG -- It's said that the more a band plays, the better it gets.

Well, Nelly Furtado and her band have been on the road nonstop for more than two months now, so the Canadian songbird who swept the Juno Awards yet sounded so tentative onstage that night (granted, it was TV sound) has finally hit her groove.

It's quite a groove, too -- a hip-swaying, Latin-inflected pulse that beats with far more vigour live than it does on record.

Which is just what Furtado's songs need in a live setting.

Take away the studio trickery and samples, add more bottom end -- and Nelly had many in the crowd saying, "Whoa," particularly with the first seven or eight songs of her set.

Yes, it was a hot one last night at the Walker -- a sold-out venue full of teens, families and only a few curious few folks in their 20s and 30s.

But most in the crowd didn't mind the heat. Furtado strode the stage with a purpose reminiscent of a young Gloria Estefan (except Estefan never wore cropped tops, hip-huggers and vintage pink Nikes), and her audience lapped up every word and inflection of her multi-faceted music.

Furtado is an interesting hybrid, capable of intense vocal energy, passages of hip hop cool and moments of quiet emotion -- without dipping into sentiment.

A case in point was her opening number, My Love Grows Deeper Part 1, an energetic, up-tempo song which also includes a hip-hop break, a slinky bridge and calls for several impressive high notes. Furtado delivered it all -- while prowling the stage like a tigress, working the balconies and the pit all at once.

Orchestra pit full of dancers

By the end of Baby Girl, third song of the night, the orchestra pit was full of dancers, banner wavers and fans looking for a handslap from the star. Furtado obliged them all, never breaking stride and hitting every one of her musical cues.

By the time she introduced the crowd with Turn Out the Light -- a nice, mid-tempo croon -- Furtado had won this crowd over. So much so that the 1,651 in attendance didn't seem to mind the set-filling antics (she only has one album's worth of material) that filled the last 20 minutes.

Openers jacksoul offered their most impressive Winnipeg appearance in years, reminiscent of times of Simply Red and Level 42 with their fluid, jazz-inflected R&B.

Singer Haydain Neale probably earned himself a few new young fans by removing his shirt two-thirds of the way into the group's 40-minute set -- it's unlikely few in the crowd had seen him like this from that close. (More on: Nelly Furtado).

JAM! Rating: 4 out of 5