TORONTO -- The Matthew Good Band should never be accused of kissing up to their audience.

 Okay, so it's not like the Vancouver power-poppers, led by emotive singer-songwriter Good, would have needed to at Air Canada Centre's Sears Theatre last night, where they shared a bill with Can-rock stars Moist.

 With the success of MGB's past two albums, 1997's Underdogs and the recent Beautiful Midnight, a good chunk of the 5,000 fans in attendance were there to see them.

 But if ever there was a rocker who seemed totally unfazed staring out at an arena filled with pumping fists, it's frontman Good.

 Not that the singer-guitarist delivered anything short of the, uh, full goods over the course of his band's hour-long set.

 There was no warming up for MGB, no moody intro. Matching note-for-note the opening of Beautiful Midnight -- right down to the "k-i-c-k-a-s-s" chanting cheerleaders -- Good and company emerged as if already worked into a lather.

 That can be faked, of course. Considering the heavy emotional mood of Good's songs -- the word "impassioned" has rarely been used as exhaustively to describe one band, with the possible exception of Moist -- it wouldn't be a tough sell.

 That said, it was amazing how easy Good balanced all that musical seriousness with the dry sense of humour that is fast becoming his trademark. He traded quips off-mike with his band, and couldn't resist a few bars of AC/DC's Thunderstruck, just to suit the arena mood.

 Last night on tour

 His admission, before launching into the melancholy Underdogs hit Apparitions, that this was the band's last night on tour and he was damned glad to be headed home for the holidays, might explain the loose mood.

 The singer would also be the first to admit that such a big cold place could deal with a bit of levity.

 Tense, catchy angst-rock anthems like Hello Timebomb, Load Me Up, and (Everything Is) Automatic, coupled with a razor sharp performance and decent sound, would have set a smaller venue on its proverbial ear. But, judging by the favourable, but stand-offish crowd reaction, MGB need an audience to meet them halfway before they can fully grow into such a venue.

 Then again, Moist frontman and pin-up David Usher had to climb into the audience to shake up a huge response to his band's sturdy set. All hell finally broke loose when, during an encore version of Moist's hit Pushed, the band suddenly broke into Back In Black and the stage was stormed by members of MGB and some unidentified naked men -- possibly from tourmates Gob.

 Sometimes audiences can be as moody as bands.

JAM! Rating: 3.5 out of 5