TORONTO - Occasionally, a concert is more remarkable for what didn't happen than what did.
And, while there was little doubting Our Lady Peace's capabilities at the Air Canada Centre last night, it was surprising when they kicked off their 90-minute set the old fashioned way: No films, no pre-taped musical passages, not even a surefire hit to get the 10,000-strong crowd on its collective feet.
The band simply took the stage and started, and promptly hit a stride that they wouldn't lose for the entire night.
Granted, it was exactly two years ago, with a show at Maple Leaf Gardens, that OLP proved they could fill an arena with a performance as well as with fans, thereby staking their claim as something other than just another Can-rock hype machine destined to level off at club-level (not that there's anything wrong with it).
What was different this time was that the group waited until mid-set, a version of Naveed, to turn on the projector and get artsy with a stream of specially shot films of old men, clowns and so forth.
Too late: If movies were a visually stimulating payoff, turns out OLP worked just as well in the dark for the first half with a few police lights flashing. Who knew?
As overwhelming audience sing-alongs on hits One Man Army, 4 A.M. and Clumsy showed, the band weren't about to meet with much resistance.
Singer Raine Maida, guitarist Mike Turner, drummer Jeremy Taggart, bassist Duncan Coutts and auxillary keyboardist Jamie Edwards upped their sonic scope as much as possible with an arsenal of electronic gear -- Turner looking ultimately chilled out in a pair of headphones.
It wasn't long before the Can-rock slipped away -- along with reams of Pearl Jam comparisons that have dogged the band since 1994 -- with a loose version of Massive Attack's stunning Teardrop.
A nice touch, yeah, but OLP, for better or worse, have come into their own.
Still, perhaps most memorable moment was the sound of show openers Stereophonics gaining hockey arena acceptance.
Big names on their own sod but known only in selective circles here (or as one sage observer recently put it, the Our Lady Peace of Wales), the power-pop trio seemed to win the ACC over seat by seat, even as most fans streamed in late.
Sounding considerably more like Oasis than they do on their current record, Performance & Cocktails, may not of hurt them in terms of accessibility -- diminutive singer-guitarist Kelly Jones has a canary's way with a melody and the larynx of Liam Gallagher after a rough night out.
But even as straight-up, catchy rockers gave way to stubbornly lengthy ballads, the cheers got louder.
From a technical standpoint, the Stereophonics couldn't have asked for a better showcase.
Somebody just might sell a few hundred more records today.
JAM! Rating: 4 out of 5
