LONDON,Ont. - Rob Thomas must be out to prove one man and his new band could rock like Twenty. Before 2,300 fans at the John Labatt Centre's RBC Theatre last night, Thomas opened with the title cut from his solo debut and then stayed with its funk-heavy sounds for the second song, Fallin' to Pieces.

Thomas wrote most of the songs for Matchbox Twenty, a group that has sold 20 million records. His album, . . . Something To Be (Warner), debuted at No. 1.

It was the first time a male artist from a rock or pop group achieved such a feat in the Billboard chart's 50-year history. The album has already produced a trio of recognizable radio hits: Lonely No More, This is How a Heart Breaks and Ever the Same.

Almost two hours later, he finished a long encore set with its opening cut, the mega-hit Heart Breaks, to a huge ovation from a crowd overwhelmingly made up of girls and women who adore Thomas. He did a little of everything from turn the Matchbox hit 3 AM into a bluesy workout with the star at the "Wurly" -- a Wurlitzer keyboard wheeled on stage for the occasion -- to letting his band carry the show. That last bit happened a lot. Too much in fact.

"Everybody listen to my band," Thomas said every now and then. He's obviously proud of the seven-piece touring outfit. To prove it, he let bass player Al Carty take a long solo about an hour into the set.

Carty is a fine player, but as he went on and on Thomas happened to remove the shirt he'd been wearing over a T-shirt from the start. Big, lustful cheers of appreciation. (By coincidence, a female fan in Section 109 had just urged the star to remove a shirt or two.)

Those cheers were much louder than anything stirred by Carty's marathon -- or the other solo spots. Maybe it's as if Thomas has tired of hearing critics take shots at Matchbox for its blah, blah bland run of hits and wants to show he can also front a funk band.

That hasn't meant the crowds will turn out for Thomas by himself. Last night's figure is about 900 short of a sellout in the centre's intimate theatre format and Thomas drew just 1,500 fans at an Ottawa show earlier this week.

Thomas was in fine voice and slowly prowled the stage in running shoes that might have been the same ones he wore when fronting the Matchbox crew in the full arena format in 2004.

Thomas stresses Matchbox Twenty is still a band, and he did the solo album because they took a break, and not vice versa. The group even played together in Las Vegas on New Year's Eve, and has definite plans to come back and record another album. "Only now I'm out a lot longer than we thought it would be. So now we're officially taking a break because of my solo record," he says of the hiatus.

California rocker Anna Nalick opened last night's show with a set peaking musically with her radio hits, In the Rough, and Breathe, from her Wreck of the Day album.

The true peak arrived about 15 minutes into Nalick's half-hour. After the usual applause for openers who mention the headliner, Nalick strapped on an acoustic guitar and said it was about being in a bad situation and leaving.

After a line or two, she stopped abruptly to slap around the chatterboxes in the crowd, a plague for opening acts at the downtown London arena since the day it opened.

"Give me silence for the ballad -- c'mon!" she spit out. "You can talk during the fast ones -- then I can't hear you."

There was a bit of shocked silence and then Nalick went on, hitting some glorious notes.

Props to you, Anna, for shouting out what the rude ones in the house need to hear. This reviewer can't say the chatter really stopped, but it did ebb for a while -- proof that Nalick's slap in the face had been a long overdue blow for politeness.

Nalick later left Thomas a cute note, concluding with "greatest girl singer ever," over her signature -- or so the headliner said.

It was just one bit of odd, maybe funny, maybe just strange stuff on the stage.

Thomas took a ride on the trolley moving his beloved Wurly off-stage, like a kid on a Zamboni. He also zoomed to the back on his own power a couple of times, played a little bit of drums and used help from his "Hallelujah Chorus" -- two women and a man who provided great backup vocals -- on a cover of David Bowie's Let's Dance.

He also talked a lot about wanting to share his songs the way he heard them. In the encore, that led him to a solo acoustic showcase for Matchbox's Bent. Later in the encore, he went through a long, long version of Smooth, his smash with Carlos Santana. Keyboards were featured -- but like the other band features on the night went on and on without saying much. In this case, the desire to something new with such a big hit wound up accomplishing less.

Still the solo hit sent the fans home happy. That's how they sounded on the way out of the arena, saying how awesome Thomas sounded -- and looked, including his hair.