EDMONTON - Are we that starved for rock 'n' roll that two of the most over-exposed and mediocre bands in Canada can draw 4,000 fans who react as though it's the best thing since Woodstock?

Apparently so.

The scene at the Shaw Conference Centre last night was polite pandemonium, safe and typically Canadian. Crowd surfing was prohibited on the penalty of expulsion (a few did it anyway). No such restriction at the Offspring show on Saturday. That was an American band. (What this means, I don't know. I'm not going to go there.)

On stage were Moist and the Matthew Good Band - the Prism and Streetheart of their time (some might argue that Prism and Streetheart had better songs, but I'm not going to go there, either). They have a few radio hits, play the same Canadian markets far too often and have only a dim hope of breaking into America. I've seen both bands many times before - not the most exciting shows, I have to say.

To be fair to Moist, the band's late start and our early deadline meant that I only caught four songs. So I'll review four songs. First, a black curtain was drawn enticingly over the stage, but dropped to reveal no special effect but the band. They started with Silver - nope, scratch that. It was Push. Oops, wrong again, it was Tangerine. It's hard to tell. The band plays the same sludgy, funky rock and singer David Usher sings the same two notes in nearly every Moist song. The guy sure works himself into a frenzy, though. Usher was so overheated after one tune that he poured water over his head. The next song was slower, belying its title: Machine Punch Through. "And you believe that I'll believe in you," Usher sang in those same two notes. He poured water on his head again. Then came Silver. I know because the whole crowd sang "we are silver," whatever that means.

The fourth song was the most interesting - Underground, from the new album, Mercedes Five and Dime - if only because of the hip-hop drum loop and the fact that it doesn't sound like Silver or Push or Tangerine. A promising new album, perhaps. I'm sure I'll get a chance to hear it live again in a few months.

Moist at least has some energy, even if they come off like they're trying too hard. Matthew Good, between opening while wearing a monkey mask and closing by tossing down his guitar like some punk rocker, was just dull. He and his band played one shoe-gazing, minor-keyed, moody, muddy, generic rock song after another. It was like 45 minutes of Tragically Hip studio outtakes with a less interesting frontman. Over this gritty "granola" rock - filling, good for you, not very interesting - Good rendered what we're finding out is a deep well of angst with a warbling vibrato. His voice is distinctive for not being particularly distinctive. As for the songs, I can only remember one: About 20 seconds of AC/DC's Thunderstruck. Between songs, the band's idea of generating excitement was getting the crowd to yell "happy birthday!" to the bassist's mom. They're nice guys, these Good brothers, they're just kind of boring.

As for opening punk band gob (note lower case spelling, designating "artistes"), the less said, the better. They, too, played a little AC/DC, complete with the giant hell's bell, but it went downhill from there. I'm waiting for when gob and a local band called Drool can open for Moist, so the bill could read: "Moist with gob and Drool." At least the marquee would be memorable.