Our Lady Peace's Raine Maida looks pretty distraught for a guy who has sold nearly a million records.
At least, he did last night as he led his band through an effortless conquest of Maple Leaf Gardens.
It was almost as if this hometown-hero was overwhelmed by the adulation Our Lady Peace received as they teetered, slammed, and bounced their way through hit after hit from last year's album Clumsy and 1994's Naveed -- both of which were mega-sellers in Canada, and are doing none too shabby in the U.S.
Chances are that behind the angst, the dramatic, emotional rock that struck such a chord with the 15,000 fans at the Gardens, Maida, guitarist Mike Turner, bassist Duncan Coutts, and drummer Jeremy Taggart were well aware that their band is exactly where it belongs: In the arena, bringing today's concert-going kids a solid dose of good, old-fashioned rock spectacle.
This was music designed to shake the rafters of the grandest sporting venues the world has to offer.
And fortunately, Our Lady Peace know exactly what to do with it.
Working in the band's favor are a string of hits -- opening tunes Automatic Flowers, Hope and Superman's Dead, as well as Naveed, and Starseed, and encore-closer Clumsy -- which kept audience energy-levels in overdrive for the show's two hours.
Then there was Maida, who could strike up a chorus of teenage-shriek-waves with the flicker of his stare or a point of his finger.
Interestingly, the singer cut out a good deal of his trademark yelping and, backed by the band's precision playing, improved on much of the recorded work.
There was still room for OLP to indulge themselves a bit with an effective lightshow and stream of artsy films projected behind them.
Also, sandwiched between openers Everclear and OLP was a screening of a Twilight Zone episode called The Dummy -- a nice, cryptic touch that either addressed the band's mixed-feelings on corporate-rock stardom, or further hinted at an intense fear of clowns.
Our Lady Peace, it would appear, have found their place.
JAM! Rating: 4 out of 5
