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TORONTO - On Sunday evening, Our Lady Peace played literally one of the biggest stages around by opening for the Rolling Stones in Ottawa. But Monday night the group was in the cozy Toronto confines of a sold-out Mod Club for an intimate and rather impressive 15-song, 80-minute gig.
The group, which released its latest studio album, Healthy In Paranoid Times, yesterday, spent more than three years on the album. And, using eight songs from the new record as a measuring stick, Our Lady Peace may have made their most consistent and accessible album to date.
Opening with the melancholic, atmospheric and slow-building Picture, lead singer Raine Maida and crew eased into the set with strobe lighting and a winter woodlands curtained backdrop used for effect. Maida, wearing a white T-shirt, black jacket and matching hat, was rather stationary early on, especially during the meaty, Zeppelin-tinged rocker Angels/Losing/Sleep that had guitarist Steve Mazur working overtime.
The crowd was onside for most of the new material, despite being unfamiliar with much of it, and needed no coaxing for drowning out Maida on Innocent and Starseed.
After a moodier and somewhat mediocre Wipe That Smile Off Your Face, which finally hit pay dirt near the conclusion, Our Lady Peace offered up Clumsy, with audience and Maida splitting vocal duties. Maida often turned the microphone to face the crowd while looking on like a pleased music conductor.
The surprise of the night, aside from an extra guitarist onstage, was how well so much of the new material came across, especially the made-for-radio World On A String and the up-tempo Love And Trust, which is perhaps the closest they've ever come to power pop.
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Even these paled compared to Boy, the highlight of the new batch -- if not the entire evening. Led by the drumming of Jeremy Taggart, the galloping tune picked up steam instantly and simply soared.
The longer the set went, the more animated Maida became. Whether winding the microphone cord around his knuckles like a boxer would tape theirs or later hovering over the crowd by walking a makeshift bar ledge, the singer seemed quite pleased.
Only during Naveed did his mood sour. After describing the tune's inspiration and a recent tragedy that befell that person, someone screamed in an almost approving manner. Maida quickly chastised the hooter, stating it wasn't exactly something to cheer about.
With the audience in the palms of their hand, Our Lady Peace doled out a string of favourites, including Somewhere Out There and 4 a.m., which again immediately created one huge campfire-like sing-along as Maida sat down on Taggart's drum riser.
"You guys didn't waste any time," Maida said with a grin.
Nor did they waste any time getting into the new album's first single, Where Are You, and the finale, Superman's Dead.
If nothing else, the three-year gap seems to be well worth the wait.