OTTAWA - Thank whoever you believe in Our Lady Peace is still together.
To hear the beloved Canadian band close out the final show of their first cross-Canada tour in five years at Scotiabank Place last night was to see goodwill in action.
That's when charismatic frontman Raine Maida invited all the members of opening acts Pedestrian, Never Ending White Lights and Jets Overhead to pour out on stage for a truly awesome rendition of OLP's breakthrough 1994 hit Starseed.
They weren't the first to be invited on stage. Maida had, during opening tune Naveed, abruptly asked the trio of photographers shooting him from the pit - including Sun snapper Sean Kilpatrick -to jump on stage and take pictures of the audience. By show's end he again turned his attention to the adoring fans, echoing the group's gratitude to the 3,600 who turned out for the near two-hour show.
I remember Maida saying in a long-ago OLP concert his favourite thing was to hear thousands of fans echoing the band's words back to him. It started early on, that now-signature brand of OLP audience participation, with the anthem-esque Innocent, continuing to newer tunes from Healthy like Where Are You and the impressive Angels/Losing/Sleep, right up through regular set closer, the hit title track from 1997's Clumsy, until the last ripping notes of Starseed.
It was a night full of great music and wicked stunts: Maida at his political best deconstructing an American flag; the frontman going out in the crowd to pick fans to line the back of the stage; him admonishing Senators fans for giving up on their team in defeat, urging them to release their frustrations by screaming the chorus of Am I Right while he sawed away at an acoustic guitar and croaked along with them; one late-show, on-stage streaker - I swear, I saw a streaker - and drummer Jeremy Taggart playing out the encore in a furry grey bear suit.
Guitarist Steve Mazur and bassist Duncan Coutts were at one with their instruments; fifth stage member Joel Shearer, from Pedestrian, only bolstered that rich, lush, distinctive OLP sound.
Good to have you back, guys. Please don't go away for that long again.
