"Don't believe everything you read," Lou Reed said cryptically, early in his set at the Hummingbird Centre last night.

"I tell journalists one thing. You, I tell the truth. You heard it here first."

Well. Far be it for me to question the legendary rocker's sincerity, but during my recent -- and pleasant -- interview with Reed, he talked mostly about the intense guitar sound captured on his latest disc, Ecstasy, and how much he loved "that sound."

After last night, I still have no reason to doubt him.

From the searing, grinding first notes of opening tune Paranoia Key Of E, "that sound" was as much on display as Reed himself.

And, despite all the expectations, the cult of Lou, the "has-he-still-got-it?" chin-stroking that goes on among us long-time fans, it was impressive to see Reed so firmly planted in the here and now when it comes to performance.

With unwavering support from his backing trio -- including long-time guitarist Mike Rathke and bassist Fernando Saunders -- he assembled his set largely from latter-day material that, if not actually from Ecstasy, would suit the album like a fresh pair of leather trousers: Moody, reflective, mid-paced, and abrasive.

It was the heaviest we've heard Reed in years.

On the down side, it was also the most noodling we've ever had from him. It was only so long before the lengthy, one-note rock jams went from the sublime to the ridiculous.

Still, trimming some of the fat off Ecstasy and mixing in a few older tunes -- i.e., a radical reworking of Small Town, off 1990's Warhol eulogy Songs For Drella, which sounded a bit like a jolly rendition of Reed's Velvet Underground classic Heroin -- injected a palpable energy into the set. Reed's reflections on marital angst on Modern Dance prompted cathartic yelps from the men in the crowd, like some support group for lovelorn tough guys; Future Farmers Of America and Mystic Child filled out the rock factor; and things were speedy enough on Romeo Had Juliet, from 1989's New York album, that talk-singing Reed had to freestyle and edit lines on the spot just to keep up.

There was a limit to all this rock, however, and it was during the latter song that one fan was ejected from the hall, apparently for dancing a little too wildly.

Indeed, things got downright surreal during the low-key Rock Minuet, when fans could be heard "shooshing" each other over Saunders' warbling bass. Then again, that was better than having to hear fans hoot and holler in response to the song's William Burroughs-style bawdiness, which probably wasn't intended as a comedy.

If anything, though, Reed -- now 58 -- can still cooly remind us over the course of a show that the same man who wrote New Sensations wrote Metal Machine Music; that a guy who came up with something as studious as Magic And Loss also made the blistering Heard Her Call My Name.

Just for hanging in there, there was always the obliging, by-the-numbers encore withSweet Jane and an AC/DC-style medley of Viscious and Rock And Roll.

JAM! Rating: 3 out of 5