Peace breaks out at the John Labatt Centre Sunday night.

Toronto rock band Our Lady Peace plays the downtown London arena on its third day of business, headlining the new building's first rock concert.

Our Lady Peace answered the prayers of civic officials, promoters and fans who were anxious to get a big-name act in the early days. Word of the Peace band's gig was welcome news after hopes of performances by the Tragically Hip and Elton John were dashed. Cher's farewell tour reaches the arena on Oct. 23 for a sold-out show well after the opening weekend excitement.

Now that Our Lady Peace is at hand, none of that talk matters to the band's drummer -- or presumably anybody else in the Juno-winning foursome.

"It's very cool," says Jeremy Taggart. "It was an opportunity to play with the new arena, so we did it."

Our Lady Peace has played London many times, including headline slots at the Western Fair grandstand. There's a mutual respect between the band and London.

"It's always a place we've consistently toured since 1993. We have a lot of respect for the people there. The people have always been nice to us," he says.

"Obviously it's a big college town . . . it's a cool town where people like to break free once in a while."

The new arena can only build on that. Based on recent dates in similar buildings, Taggart just knows the John Labatt Centre will sound right when Our Lady Peace hits the stage. Canadian rock band Treble Charger opens the show.

"I'm sure it's fine. All these new hockey arenas are designed pretty much the same," Taggart says.

"They're very 'sound-designed.' They're very sound-oriented buildings. They're usually a pleasure to mix in. I think it will be fine."

The band plays London at a time when it has a hot release in its fifth album, Gravity (Columbia/Sony). It rocked Sarnia's Bayfest 2002 this summer and has adjusted beautifully to the arrival of new guitarist Steve Mazur.

The Detroit rocker joined frontman and official CanRock hunk Raine Maida, Taggart and bassist Duncan Coutts after the "amicable" departure of guitarist Mike Turner. Maida is married to singer-songwriter Chantal Kreviazuk, making him one-half of the first couple of Canadian rock. The Raine-Chantal union guarantees that virtually every Our Lady Peace lyric since their nuptials is under constant scrutiny for signs of marital joy or sorrow. Gravity has been the most closely watched of them all.

The band's second album, Clumsy, entered the Canadian sales charts at No. 1 in 1997. It sold 2.5 million copies around the world, and went platinum in Canada. Hits from Clumsy and subsequent albums include Superman's Dead, Automatic Flowers, One Man Army, In Repair and Life.

Since Turner played an influential role in the direction and cerebral tone of Our Lady Peace's fourth album, Spiritual Machines, a change could be expected.

Gravity delivers that change. It is much more emotionally direct and raw. "We definitely hit a new level. Every change we made was for the better. Bob Rock (the producer) was definitely very influential on this record ," Taggart says. "He's become a really great friend, a wonderful new relationship . . . he has a lot of great ideas. He gets great sounds, he has great fundamentals and understands everything on a similar level or a higher level than we're used to. We're learning a lot of things."

Rock has also produced U.S. band Metallica. He was back with Our Lady Peace recently to work on a track for the soundtrack of Daredevil, a movie starring Ben Affleck as a masked vigilante. Daredevil has yet to be released.

Daredevil is not the first time Our Lady Peace has lent its music to a tough guy in need of a good song. Last year, the band liked the way Canadian pro wrestler Chris Benoit used its Whatever as his theme. The band bonded with Benoit, a good guy on the WWE circuit. Our Lady Peace admired his work ethic and felt a kinship with his place as a solid performer. Then came a painful time out for the wrestler. Benoit was injured and underwent surgery, but is back battling evil in the ring.

By coincidence, Benoit is on the bill when WWE grapplers hold court at the John Labatt Centre on Monday. Tonight, it's the OHL's London Knights at the building's opener and tomorrow it's a community-minded night. Entertainment down the road in 2003 include the Harlem Globetrotters and Ray Charles and maybe even Bob Dylan.

But it's Our Lady Peace, a Canadian band tough enough to hit the right note with a grappler, which has the place in arena history as the first rock headliner.

Taggart cheerfully dismisses concerns that Benoit, its WWE connection and fellow arena star, is still feeling the effects of a bitter on-stage feud with WWE head honcho and villain Vince McMahon. "That's all work. That's all fake," he laughs about Benoit's mock battle.

On Sunday, all the Peace work will be real.