Massey Hall, Toronto - January 24, 2007
By JANE STEVENSON -- Toronto Sun
TORONTO - Lukas Rossi got the homecoming of his life last night as the Toronto frontman of reality-TV band Rockstar Supernova played Massey Hall.
Taking the stage before a sold-out crowd, the 30-year-old Rossi was greeted by screaming, clapping fans of all ages -- from kids to grandparents -- before he and his three bandmates even began their hour-and-15-minute set.
"I'm back f---ing home, aren't I?" said Rossi with a big smile on his face. "A year ago I was just a fry cook (at Hooters). You guys made this happen. I'm so f---ing happy to be Canadian."
And when Rossi, backed by Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee, ex-Guns N' Roses guitarist Gilby Clarke and Black Crowes bassist Johnny Colt (filling in for an injured Jason Newsted, formerly of Metallica), was once again treated to more prolonged love later in the show, he said; "F--- California, I'm coming back home."
As promised by Rossi before the band arrived, last night's concert was a drastically toned-down affair compared to the sexually-charged tour launch in Las Vegas on New Year's Eve.
Absent was Rossi's over-the-top suggestive intro -- edited down to him basically just saying, "What happens at a Rockstar Supernova show, stays at a Rockstar Supernova show," -- drummer Tommy Lee operating a "t-tty-cam," and two female dancers in bikini tops, g-strings and chaps.
Instead, it was mostly about the music, as heavy-handed as it was at times -- loud, brightly lit, and with Rossi's tendency to wail instead of sing.
When everyone settled down, like during such standouts as It's All Love, Headspin -- "this is for you, Mom," Rossi began by way of an intro -- The Dead Parade and Be Yourself (And 5 Other Cliches), it actually was tolerable.
And while opening and closing the show with Underdog and a cover of The Rolling Stones' Let's Spend The Night Together, as they did in Vegas, the group drastically moved around the song order and added one new cover, a rocked-up version of Don Henley's Boys Of Summer.
Present too, as in Sin City, was an all-female string quartet which joined the group for two songs, a cover of The Verve's Bittersweet Symphony and Rockstar Supernova's own ballad Can't Bring Myself To Light This Fuse.
Canada obviously loves their home boy as the group's label presented Rockstar Supernova with plaques signifying their self-titled debut album had gone platinum (100,000 copies sold), the first place it has done so.
Otherwise, it was a Rockstar Supernova TV reunion of sorts with no fewer than three people involved in the series as openers.
The other two lead singer finalists, South Africa's Dilana Robichaux and Toby Rand with his Australian band Juke Kartel, along with The Panic Channel, led by show co-host and guitarist Dave Navarro, warmed up the audience for Rossi and company.
And while Robichaux may have been the most eye-catching -- in a black leather bustier, white crinoline skirt with a black cross on it, and crazy, multi-coloured extensions in her hair -- it was Rand who walked away with the best musical set of the three.
Women flocked to the front of the stage as soon as the tank-topped, well-toned Rand appeared and he gamely had his picture taken with several of them during his five-song set, which included Chemical Dreaming, familiar to anyone who watched the TV series.
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