TORONTO - If Canadian music had its own version of the Olympic torch, someone could have passed it liberally from the Molson Amphitheatre to Historic Fort York last night.

The Tragically Hip played the first of two soldout shows (the second one is tonight) at Fort York. Meanwhile, Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings, formerly of the Guess Who, were performing just down the street.

"It's great to be here in the cradle of the Gardiner Expressway," Hip lead singer Gord Downie said, "protected from the lake at all times."

Downie's observation notwithstanding, the Fort York venue - with the CN Tower protruding majestically in the East behind the stage - was one of the stars of the night as the Hip played a generally excellent show.

Fort York holds 6,500 for concerts, but in recent years it has become more associated with a beer festival. Then again, a Hip concert is kind of like a mini-beer festival anyway.

The crowd was more subdued than at other manic Hip concerts over the past 15 years. But maybe that was because the fans actually could hear every note and every lyric.

For an outdoor venue, the sound at Fort York was shockingly crisp. And that also allowed the patrons to make out every nuance in Downie's trademark demented diatribes.

During Fire In The Hole, the final song of the three-song encore, Downie went on an extended rant about air quality.

"Stop killing us slowly," Downie yelped. "Don't believe (Ontario Premier) Dalton McGuinty - he's full of s---."

And what would the evening be without a history lesson from Downie, with his standard twisted ending?

"I know you don't want to hear it, but in 1832 there was a cholera epidemic up and down the lake," Downie said. "Many people died where you stand tonight. And now here's a song about two young people who don't give a s---."

Hmm, Downie sure likes that 'S' word.

Musically, highlights included Poets, Escape Is At Hand For The Travellin' Man and My Music At Work, which closed the main set. And it was great to hear New Orleans Is Sinking, after it understandably fell out of vogue in the wake of Hurricane Katrina last year.

It says a lot about the Hip's confidence playing in Toronto that they could open with a new song - The Lonely End Of The Rink - and not risk a Fort York rebellion. That tune presumably will be on the Hip's new studio CD this fall.

The Hip - Downie, lead guitarist Rob Baker, rhythm guitarist Paul Langlois, bassist Gord Sinclair and drummer Johnny Fay - has been around long enough to become part of Canadian music's DNA.

Like Bachman-Cummings, the Hip's fame these days is based more on familiarity than surprises. But if last night is any indication, the Tragically Hip still is a long way from needing hip surgery.