Concert Review
Our Lady Peace
With: Trailer Park Boys, Finger Eleven, Seether
Where: Skyreach Centre
When: Tuesday night
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EDMONTON - In Canada, almost anyone can be a rock star.

Witness Velvet Empire, last year's Popstars flops. Or "rapper" Ricky J, who gave us the despicably awful No Means No. Or b4-4, the trio of plasticized, tanned brothers from Toronto. OK, so only two were related --?but they all looked alike. Scary.

Thanks to Our Lady Peace, we might have a new addition to the list -- Bubbles, the pouty dimwit with 10-inch thick glasses from Showcase's television program, Trailer Park Boys. As his big face appeared on a screen at the Skyreach Centre, 8,000 fans screamed with glee. Later on, the crowd chanted his name and goaded him into singing Kitties Are Nice, a country ditty about his 40 cats. Awww.

(Incidentally, the actor who plays Bubbles was a member of Sandbox, an East Coast band, and has composed music for Trailer Park Boys and films such as Serendipity and The Weight Of Water.)

Bubbles and his pals, Julian and Ricky, almost stole the show from a bunch of real rock stars -- Raine Maida, Jeremy Taggert, Duncan Coutts and Steve Mazur of Our Lady Peace, who are die-hard fans of the TV program and invited the Trailer boys on tour.

I'm joking, of course. OLP, their cool lighting rig and their fans were the stars of Tuesday's show, taped for an upcoming DVD. (Look for it in April.)

For the first quarter of the gig, OLP concentrated on tunes from 2002's Gravity, including Not Enough, Bring Back The Sun, and All For You.

The Toronto rockers also threw in a few older songs, such as Life and Naveed, which seemed to go over better with fans, many of whom might not yet fully embrace the Bob Rock-ness of Gravity.

Halfway into Naveed, OLP had a very U2-like moment -- Maida picked up a spotlight and beamed it across the back of the arena as Mazur's guitar started jangling a lot like The Edge's riffs.

Maida then segued into a verse or two of Life, from Spiritual Machines, choosing to ignore the high notes altogether. After kneeling on stage like Bono, Maida raised his fist in the air and segued back into Naveed.

Hmm. Methinks he's been watching U2's 1988 concert video, Rattle and Hum, too much. (By the way, Mazur is a pretty good replacement for Mike Turner.)

Finger Eleven's Scott Anderson didn't try acting like any certain rock star, thankfully. With his bald head and button-up shirt, he looked more like a staid stock broker who accidentally wandered on to a stage with four hairy hard rockers.

Anderson didn't move around much, but he didn't have to. His two guitarists, James Black and Rick Jackett, achieved the band's flail and stomp quotient as they churned out seven tunes, including Above and First Time, both from Finger Eleven's explosive last album, The Greyest of Blue Skies.

I could write more about 'em, but I need space to include the opening band, Seether, who proved geography doesn't necessarily have a bearing on a band's music. Despite growing up in South Africa, the foursome still managed to sound like every other '90s group from Seattle.

Seether's label, Sony, and MuchMusic recently sponsored a "Help Break A Rock Band" contest, where winners would get to ride on the group's bus and help promote the guys as they cross Canada.

Forget Seether. My money's on Bubbles.

ssperounes@thejournal.southam.ca


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