Sloan vocalist and bass guitarist Chris Murphy and drummer Andrew Scott fire up the London Balloon Festival.

LONDON, Ont. - Sloan couldn’t help floating on high at the London Balloon Festival outdoor concert at Harris Park last night.

The Toronto-based rock band was preaching a little balloon love to go with its catalogue of hits before a paid crowd of about 3,000 fans, with an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 more in the fest free space.

“Did everybody get up today?” Sloan bassist and vocalist Chris Murphy asked the happy Sloan-lovers pushing up to the stage. “Cool — us, too,” Murphy said. “Statistically, it’s the safest way to travel. We should all be travelling by balloon.”

With its fans in the park singing along and chanting “Slo-ownnnnnn” like it was 1996, Murphy and bandmates Patrick Pentland, Andrew Scott and Jay Ferguson obliged with an excellent rundown of Sloan singles from the band’s 1992-2005 career recap A Sides Win. The set list included The Lines You Amend, Coax Me, Money City Maniacs, The Other Man and The Rest of My Life.

Sloan showed it has some fresh fuel to keep it in flight with its new single, Who Taught You to Live. Murphy apologized in advance for the lack of a piano and his own difficulties with playing the song live. No problem on this night. Pentland’s lead vocal was fine and this latest single has the old Sloan edge to the lyrics to saw away at the trademark harmonies.

Sloan came back for a two-song encore. Murphy said the band was facing “a hard curfew” — the 11 p.m. shutdown dictated by city anti-noise regulations. An abrupt blurt from the Sloan man — “Things are getting late. Good night” — had finished the main set. But plenty of “Sloan” shouting brought the band back. The concert ended with a fine blast through If It Feels Good Do It — another single from the band that has a balloon load of them.

There had been no problem getting the show off the ground. Last night the opener was Trole, a London region band with an outstanding live reputation and plenty of its own good songs. The same formula is followed tonight when London rock band Bobnoxious opens for Matt Mays & El Torpedo and Grady.

Trole grew out of bands led by St. Thomas brothers J. Trole Taylor (vocals and rhythm guitar) and J.H. Taylor (lead guitar and backup vocals). With standup bassist Shawn Stacpoole and drummer Sultan Dhrum, both of London, able to keep Trole on target, the brothers were free to pump it up.

Trole won more than $10,000 in prizes, including $5,000 in cash, at a Toronto showcase recently, beating more than 100 other acts for first place.

Montreal band Mobile played its set as a quartet last night, with guitarist Frank Williamson out of action following injuries to his shoulder and fingers after a tumble off his bicycle. While Williamson is recovering, lead singer Mat Joly is strapping on a guitar for some tunes and lead guitarist Christian (Criq) Brais is changing his attack on others. The approach worked on Friday night at a Halifax show. But when the band flew to London yesterday, the flight was delayed and Mobile’s luggage was lost. Maybe the band should have ballooned it to the fest.

Williamson is expected to be back with his four bandmates when Mobile returns to the London area for the three-day Ovation Music Festival next month at Stratford.

Sloan is also in a mid-bill slot at Ovation. Sloan is on the Rolling Stones show in Sloan’s hometown of Halifax Sept. 23.