On the Road Again
Live Review

Our Lady Peace
Saint John, NB
Jan. 7, 1998

OLP opened their Canadian Tour in Saint John, NB to a capacity crowd. The band played amidst a huge stage of moving lights, a video screen and a backdrop painted with two trapeze artist caricatures. The video screen started off the night and appeared at various points throughout the showing staged footage of an old man which kept the crowd entertained with among other things, reading passages from the poem Our Lady Peace. The night opened to a thunderous roar as the band broke into "Automatic Flowers," "Hope" and "Superman's Dead" then continued with "Birdman" and "Car Crash." Raine told a story of two Russian trapeze artists who were in love, well sort of, that led into "Trapeze," "Let You Down" and "Carnival." Raine then told the story of a female musician who handed the band a demo tape that included her piano rendition of "Julia." The band loved this version so much they adopted it for the tour and played her version. "Naveed" got the crowd pumped again and more video footage played during the middle of the song. Then, during "Neon Crossing," the first of three fans that would jump on stage throughout the night was hauled off by security guards. As the band launched into "Starseed" a frenzy of lights set off the crowd. They ended the set with a mellow cover of THE BEATLES' "Dear Prudence." With a crowd screaming at the top of their lungs, the band returned for an encore of the moving "4 AM" and a great finale in"Clumsy." Overall the band played a tight set but seemed to play it a bit safe energetic wise as Raine wandered to the stage wings only a few times throughout the night and there was little chanting to get the crowd involved. The visual presentation, however, was impressive and it seems only a matter of a couple shows before the band gets comfortable with their new surroundings.

- Greg Campbell