OTTAWA -- Picture this.

I am a beer company. I have a marketing plan.

I inspire 2,500 partygoers to flock to the parking lot of On Tap at York in the Byward Market on Canada Day to watch eat, drink and be merry while two huge video screens and a couple of small TV sets show images of five different bands playing live in five different Canadian cities.

I dub this the Molson Canadian Simulbash.

I invite alt-rockers Our Lady Peace to perform in Ottawa , while the remaining Canadian cities get American bands.

I am Molson. And I am Canadian.

If you were in any other Canadian city, wouldn't you feel slightly jaded and un-Canadian? Why should Ottawa get all the luck? What's so special about Ottawans? They're just a government town, aren't they?

Not quite. We just happen to know how to throw a distinctly Canadian outdoor backyard party, that's all.

Just give a shot at free passes, feed us with good food and beverage (Molson Canadian, of course), provide us with flags and T-shirts and you've satisfied us.

U.S. invasion

Following a late entry -- likely due to the heavy dinner-hour rainfall throwing things off schedule -- last night's Simulbash, got things rolling with a fairly bland set from Third Eye Blind in St. John's, followed by a funky, though mediocre Stone Temple Pilots in Toronto, Joe Canadian doing his famous I Am Canadian rant in Edmonton, the OLP Ottawa (more on that later), the Goo Goo Dolls rocking in Vancouver and No Doubt shaking their booties Edmonton.

All indoor venues. All successfully fed by satellite to each city, as well as 85 other bars across the country via closed-circuit TV.

But no matter where one caught the Simulbash, the feeling of Canadian pride probably lacked a certain appeal.

Sure, you had crowd members show off flags in certain, er, cheeky locations or reciting one's own "I Am Canadian" rant. But why does one need an American band to promote Canuck pride?

Those who attended last night's Simulbash in the Market -- hosted by former MuchMusic VJ Steve Anthony -- were fortunate to receive the most distinctly Canadian show.

Dressed in a Tokyo City Mooks tanktop and sunglasses, OLP lead singer Raine Maida remarked, "The one thing we have over those bands is we are actually Canadian."

Energized

Then he and the band proved it in arguably the most energized hour-long set, with crowd members proudly piping in to the choruses of Is Anybody Home? and Clumsy, while Starseed, Naveed, Stealing Babies and Automatic Flowers had moshers and all out in full force, as cups of beer showered down (hey, it was better than the heavy rain).

If the reek of consumerism in our culture is what it takes to unite Canadians together then, judging from the smiles and cheers last night, then we should be proud to be Canadian.

JAM! Rating: 3.5 out of 5