TORONTO -- Watching Shirley Manson, standing stock still at the microphone and delivering a heartwrenching cover of arguably the most poignant teenage courtship song ever written -- the aching "Thirteen" by archetypal '70s cult band Big Star -- it became painfully obvious why the previous 75 minutes at a packed Phoenix Concert Theatre, Sunday night, had been such a frustrating experience.

Finally freed of the precision required by the painstakingly choreographed loops, samples, and audio cues that Garbage has constructed its live show around, the five musicians on stage loosened up and simply PLAYED, just like the "real band" they keep telling interviewers they've become.

Instead of the painfully distorted bass parts that drummer Butch Vig triggered on the chorus of virtually every one of the 16 songs that preceded the Big Star cover, we heard the group's perfectly capable touring bassist, Daniel Shulman, providing a subtle, rock-solid anchor to Manson's singing. Hell, the flashiest the song's accompaniment got was when Steve Marker plinked out a two-finger piano solo in the middle.

It was a welcome contrast to the stiffness that marred much of the rest of the show. While technology has liberated Garbage in the studio, it has definitely enslaved them on stage.

Despite the occasional tinkering with arrangements, particulary on "Queer" and an exhilarating run-through of "Only Happy When It Rains", the band seems to have painted itself into a corner. Instead of acknowleding the limits inherent in live performance and reinventing their songs, they've played into the trap of trying to reproduce their studio sound in concert.

Given the fact that a song like "Push It" features more than one hundred overdubs on record, that approach seems inexplicable at best, and lacking in imagination at worst.

Fortunately, Garbage ultimately did prevail, largely through plain stubbornness on Manson's part. During the regular set-closer, "Only Happy When It Rains", she beamed at the crowd, put her hands on her hips, and let the audience belt out the second chorus all by itself.

After "Thirteen", the band closed out the evening by barrelling through another B-side, the Kinks-ish "Girl Don't Come", then navigating skillfully through the sombre ballad, "You Look So Fine", which ended with Manson whispering, "Let's pretend a happy end."

It was the perfect conclusion to a highly imperfect evening.

JAM! Rating: 3 out of 5