OTTAWA - It took awhile for the reincarnated INXS -- with flashy new Canuck face J.D. Fortune -- to get rolling last night.

You couldn't help but get the feeling, at first anyway, that the crowd of 6,200 out at Scotiabank Place was showing a decided lack of vigour any time Fortune yelled, "You guys want to hear anything else from Switch?"

Maybe it's just me who isn't all that excited about the group's hastily assembled 2005 comeback album. Then again, I was one of those shmucks who thought the notion of a faded, aging rock band from Down Under searching for their new frontman on a CBS reality TV show last summer was super dumb. Seems bloody brilliant now, doesn't it?

At first, the group just sort of chugged along by dipping into the past -- opening with 1990's Suicide Blonde, then going on to an uneven Mystify, where Fortune suffered his only wobbles of the night -- but mostly sticking to the present, which included mellowed-out Switch tune Afterglow.

Somewhere after the first half hour of what turned out to be a solid, memorable 90-minute performance, what unfolded on stage became a real rock show. There was the string of INXS' best from the past, then the addictive, heavily-rotated radio Switch hit Pretty Vegas fit right in to close out the regular set.

Fortune is no Michael Hutchence, the band's original frontman who died in 1997. He's too pretty, and shiny, and bouncy -- tattoos and once-homeless street cred aside -- for that. Formidable in his own right, last night Fortune proved it was about more than F-bomb tossing and mike-stand throwing swagger, though he has that in spades. He just oozes talent.

It's best he never tried to copy Hutchence, who defied emulation. Clearly, he could never be anyone but himself.

As for the original INXS, the Farriss brothers et al are back to their most practised, proud-veteran rock star selves. One of the best moments came during What You Need, as Kirk Pengilly and Tim Farriss stood on risers at the back of the stage, each respectively wailing away on his saxophone and guitar.

Fortune thrilled again when he returned for the encore, cigarette in hand, to smack down some compelling spoken word. There was a sweet-n-lovely refrain from Amazing Grace, where he was flanked by two powerful female backup singers, and a soaring close-out rendition of Don't Change, from 1982's Shabooh Shoobah.

I'm looking forward to their next album, even if the show was a little uneven. It was nice to see an act nearing their 30th anniversary thriving by drawing from yesterday rather than clinging to it desperately.