Junary 26, 2001
Moffatts rock the crowd
By Ben Rayner
Somebody's gotta wean the girls off Britney and the boy bands, and the Moffatts might be the Pied Pipers we need for the job.
The 4,000 or so young ladies going berserk for the Victoria-bred sibling quartet at the Air Canada Centre last night have, in any case, willingly made the stylistic switch from teen-friendly bubblegum to radio-ready modern rock along with the lads. And even if the platinum-selling new Submodalities album hasn't attracted the older, male demographic its creators would probably prefer to see in the crowd, the Moffatts can rest easy knowing that were it not for their youth and their poppy past, they'd probably have no trouble roping in the boys who eat up similar fare by Matthew Good and Our Lady Peace.
Playing hard and delighting in the requisite arena-rock moves, the band - windmilling guitarist Scott, bassist Clint, keyboardist Dave and drummer Bob - gave short shrift to its back catalogue, relegating the treacly trio of ``I'll Be There For You,'' ``Girl Of My Dreams'' and ``Miss You Like Crazy'' to a mid-show pop-hits medley.
The Moffatts compensatory fondness for power-chord bombast like ``Antifreeze And Aeroplanes'' and ``I Don't Want You To Want Me'' is irksome, but the innocent, punchy hookiness of tunes like ``Bang Bang Boom'' and the Cheap Trick-ish ``California'' - delivered with an intro lifted from Marilyn Manson's ``Beautiful People'' and an extended, fist-pumping Gary Glitter homage at the mid section that had the girlies chanting ``Eh! Eh! Eh!'' like drunken louts at an AC/DC show - is undeniable.
True, things spiralled into the surreal around the boys' lengthy cover of ``Sweet Home Alabama'' (wherein Scott traded solos with Shaun Verrault from openers Wide Mouth Mason) and ``Spy,'' a thunderous, strobelit Radiohead-meets-Queen epic that tested the patience even of stalwart fans in ``I love Bob'' headbands.
But on the whole, the show's perfectly solid; the chops and enthusiasm are there. Can't wait 'til they get into Slayer.
(Original text: Toronto Star, p. MO12 )