As the consensus leader of pop's nascent return-to-roots movement, the St. Louis-based Wilco has been saddled with a bunch of expectations they have absolutely no use for.

 Judging by their highly anticipated Toronto debut Wednesday night/yesterday morning at a packed Horseshoe, their solution to that situation is to let the air out of it, and damn quick.

 Led by perennially bemused frontman Jeff Tweedy, the band basically hijacked its own show.

 Instead of taking the usual route and opening with a crashing, uptempo number, they kicked things off with the morose Passenger Side, one of the most downbeat tunes from their exceptional debut album, A.M.

 They then ambled through a ragged collection of songs that aren't on that album, including several by Wilco's predecessor, the now-defunct Uncle Tupelo.

 At times, the gaps between the songs seemed to run as long as the songs themselves.

 All of this had the desired effect of letting the band lead the audience, rather than the other way around.

 And when the two sides occasionally drifted into sync - on the Replacements-like Pick Up The Change, Doug Sahm's Give Back The Key To My Heart, and especially the affectionate Rod Stewart/Faces homage, Casino Queen - Wilco's strategy made all the sense in the world.

 SUN RATING: 3 OUT OF 5