TORONTO - One thought kept running through my head as I watched neo-soul singer Maxwell struggle through the launch of his North American tour on Friday night at the Air Canada Centre Theatre.

What a difference a year makes.

After putting on one of the best shows of the year in Toronto last October at Massey Hall, Maxwell returned to kick off his first-ever North American arena tour in the ACC's theatre setup and never looked totally comfortable in the larger setting despite rehearsing in Toronto for the last two weeks.

To be fair, there are almost always technical and production problems at every first show of a major tour so hopefully as Maxwell's trek continues he will iron out some of the kinks.

But there's not much you can do, other than cancel, if you lose your voice.

It was clear there were vocal problems early in the show, as Maxwell's talented ten-piece band, including a three-man horn section, drowned out his voice during his opening older songs, Sumthin' Sumthin', Get To Know Ya and Lifetime.

Later the Brooklyn-born singer, who often fidgeted with his earphones, explained his voice was hoarse and he had almost cancelled the show.

Never was the problem more apparent than during what is normally one of his live show's biggest highlights, a cover of Kate Bush's This Woman's Work, which found an eager female fan snuggle up beside him on stage before she was escorted off.

"I'm pretty hoarse tonight," said Maxwell, after he struggled through the song. "I didn't think I was going to be on this stage. But I didn't want to cancel."

Also problematic was Maxwell's stage setup with a y-shaped catwalk that brought the sexy, good looking singer closer to his adoring female fans, who he often hi-fived when they weren't hurling underwear at him, but it never really seemed to suit his fluid dance moves.

Instead, it seemed disjointed rather than complimentary.

And when he popped up and then disappeared from three different areas on the catwalk during the course of one song, it was comical instead of impressive.

Think David Copperfield and you're getting close.

The show actually began promisingly with a large video screen displaying water imagery as the handsome, and sharply dressed Maxwell emerged into the spotlight to huge applause and screams from his besotted fans.

But as the evening progressed, Maxwell's bedroom-suitable stage banter seemed beneath a man who has been called a modern-day Marvin Gaye.

It took the singer a good 45-minutes to find his groove, ironically warming up during the new song, Cold, from his first album in eight years, BLACKsummers'night, the first installment in a trilogy of records with the next two scheduled to be released in 2010 and 2011.

Later, as his show came to a close, another new song, Pretty Wings, found white feathers floating throughout the air, and the older encore song, Ascension (Don't Ever Wonder), finally seemed to hit the mark, but by that point, it seemed a little too late for a rally.