TORONTO - If we could get a nickel back for every pair of jeans at the Nickelback concert last night, we would be very rich.

That is not a criticism, merely an observation.

Nickelback fans are a devoted and resilient lot. They have a similar mentality, and look, as Toronto Rock lacrosse fans -- specifically, they like what they like, trendiness is not important to them, and they don't care what any of the fancy-pants critics say.

Looking at things objectively, even six freshly minted Juno Award nominations did not transform Nickelback into a magical live act at the Air Canada Centre last night. Their concert persona is not unique, nor are the technical details of their show, unless countless ear-splitting firecracker blasts are your idea of cutting-edge.

But the members of Nickelback -- frontman Chad Kroeger, bassist Mike Kroeger, guitarist Ryan Peake and new drummer Daniel Adair -- were in a particularly good mood. And why not? They're having the last laugh as they keep selling tickets, moving CDs and garnering awards.

"What's going on Toronto?" shrieked a cocksure Chad Kroeger in the middle of the first song, which ended with a big blast of fire from either side of the drum kit.

The video screen behind the band and the main arena scoreboard above centre ice showed, appropriately, a series of family photos as the band launched into its third tune of the night, the Juno-nominated Photograph.

"If you know the words to this one, we'd appreciate it if you'd sing along," Kroeger asked with mock humility.

One glitch: When the centre-ice screens cut to live stage action, the feed was a split-second slow. Thus, it was like watching a foreign-language film with ill-timed English voice-overs.

But that part, at least, was not the band's fault.

Nickelback is what Nickelback is: Four Average Joes from Western Canada with a straightforward approach. They are rock and roll accountants, and folks who appreciate that sort of thing -- as well as having their concerts interrupted by merchandise giveaways courtesy of T-shirt cannons -- got what they paid for last night.

The floor of the ACC was open for standing room rather than reserved seating. A sea of baseball caps bounced as Nickelback plucked liberally from its extensive repertoire, which is bolstered by three No. 1 CDs in a row.

By the time Nickelback completed its encore, Kroeger must have thrown about 100 guitar picks into the audience as holy and coveted souvenirs. Hello, E-Bay!

Proceeding Nickelback was Live, whose singer Ed Kowalczyk (ever hear of a stage name?) made the poor fashion choice of wearing what appeared to be a female Olympic swimming top (he eventually took it off). But Kowalczyk has the kind of voice that carries well in an arena, and while recent single The River was a highlight, Lightning Crashes predictably got the biggest reaction.

Sadly, the arena was 75% empty when Toronto power trio Danko Jones took the stage at the stroke of 7 o'clock.

"F--- radio play, f--- all that s---," irreverent frontman and band namesake Danko Jones bellowed.

At one point Jones closed his eyes and pretended he was the headliner as he screamed, "Nickelback!" The crowd cheered and Jones concluded, "That felt good."

Not as good as it must feel to actually be Nickelback these days, naysayers be damned.