VANCOUVER - Canadian singer J.D. Fortune had some mighty big shoes to fill when he won last summer's reality series Rockstar: INXS, replacing the late, great Michael Hutchence as lead singer of the Aussie dance-rock band. Hutchence killed himself in 1997.

Nowhere was that fact more apparent than during INXS's world tour launch on Wednesday night in Vancouver at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre.

Playing in front of a soldout crowd of 2,800 -- with tickets snapped up in under five minutes -- the 32-year-old Mississauga native struggled to find his own identity on stage, even though he did lead the audience through an inspired, solo a capella version of Canada's national anthem at the end of the show.

But, like a kid in a candy store, Fortune just seemed slightly overwhelmed at times, while his more seasoned bandmates -- who've been together for 30 years -- never played a false note.

The hour-and-25-minute performance began with the questionable song choice of Suicide Blonde.

But the crowd went nuts from the get-go for the combination of the handsome homegrown singer and the familiar INXS back catalogue, particularly such funky rockers as New Sensation, Mystify, Need You Tonight, Kick, Devil Inside, early hits such as Original Sin, Don't Change, and What You Need, and the emotional one-two punch of Stairs and Never Tear Us Apart during the encore.

About a half-dozen songs from INXS' newest album, Switch, recorded with Fortune in the post-Rockstar: INXS period, were also represented -- including the huge hit, Pretty Vegas, which Fortune co-wrote and performed on the reality show, and the appealing and Bowie-esque Hungry.

But the most poignant moment of the evening came during the new tune, Afterglow, written as a tribute to Hutchence, when the band seemed to collectively have moved on from his rather large shadow.

If Hutchence was funky, sexy, mysterious and dangerous, Fortune is way more more accessible, right down to the crotch grabs, beer-swilling, cigarette-smoking and liberal use of the f-bomb.

The good news is that Fortune -- who changed outfits three times, including into a black t-shirt with the world "Hustler" on it -- will eventually forge his own style, hopefully by the time the group arrives at Massey Hall for two soldout shows on Feb. 6-7.

There's still some of the former Elvis impersonator left in him yet.

Opening on Wednesday night was Fortune's fellow finalist in Rockstar: INXS, Marty Casey with his band the Lovehammers and the audience seemingly couldn't get enough of their hyper rock sound and his crazy stage moves.

Most familiar of the tunes, of course, was the song Trees, which Casey wrote and performed on the summer reality series, although a rocked-up version of Johnny Cash's Ring Of Fire was another crowd favourite.

SETLIST:

Suicide Blonde
New Sensation
Devil's Party
Mystify
Disappear
By My Side
Afterglow
Taste It
Original Sin
Hungry
Never Let You Go
What You Need
Need You Tonight
Pretty Vegas
Kick
Devil Inside

ENCORES:
Stairs
Never Tear Us Apart
Don't Change
O Canada (J.D. solo)