TORONTO - At times Thursday evening at the Air Canada Centre, Montreal punk-pop outfit Simple Plan looked like a weary, fatigued fighter in the twelfth round.

Fortunately they had a lot of help in their corner.

The group, nearing the end of a tour-heavy 2005 behind its sophomore studio album and a recently released live record, spent a sizable amount of its nearly 100-minute set thanking the predominantly pre-teens and teens that filled a good portion of the smaller, horseshoe-shaped configuration.

In return, the crowd responded in kind to make it an entertaining, at times dragging, kind of show.

Led by singer Pierre Bouvier, the band kicked things off with Shut Up and Jump from 2004's Still Not Getting Any ..., the latter with Bouvier encouraging everyone to, you guessed it, jump.

And jump they did, not just during this song but throughout the night, almost acting like a communal Red Bull energy drink for the quintet.

When not singing along boisterously to favourites like Addicted and Crazy, their enthusiasm made the band's run-of-the-mill stabs during Me Against The World and God Must Hate Me glide just above the bar.

The group, who stated their plans to return to the studio next year, dazzled when they kept themselves in check and avoided extending the songs to needlessly rile up an already riled-up audience. Thank You was a great example as they tore through the frantic punk ditty while Promise was short but quite snappy.

What failed miserably was a cover of The Turtles' Happy Together. Stripped of its bouncy, '60s feel and replaced with a full-bore punk effort, the tune seemed quite messy. Another cover in the encore, The Darkness' I Believe In A Thing Called Love, was a marginal improvement. But don't get me started on their rap routine that used Snoop Dogg's Drop It Like It's Hot.

The effort came across as paltry filler more than anything else.

In general though, Simple Plan was able to deliver songs like Thank You, Welcome To My Life and Untitled alongside teen-angst anthems like I'm Just A Kid and Perfect with enough oomph to keep things from falling apart.

Drummer Chuck Comeau and singer-bassist David Desrosiers also had their moments, particularly Comeau. During I'm Just A Kid, the drummer ran through the crowd and up a flight of steps to lower bowl's top row while Desrosiers temporarily filled in.

Simple Plan nearly had its thunder stolen earlier with a delirious response to support act Hedley.

Or should I say its lead singer, Canadian Idol contestant Jacob Hoggard. When not looking foolish at times writhing on the floor or pounding his chest, the singer's stage schtick resembled a Canadian answer to Robbie Williams, especially during On My Own and Johnny Falls.

Earlier acts featured ska act Planet Smashers as well as impressive up-and-comers Idle Sons.

Sun Rating: 3 out of 5