Live from Calgary and Edmonton

AMG Review of Live from Calgary and Edmonton

Johnny Loftus
All Music Guide

After over ten years together, Toronto's Our Lady Peace settled into a sound that accesses the grandeur of U2 via clean channel grunge guitars and the anchor of frontman Raine Maida's charismatic steel-wool wail. Though his lyrics tend to cross the busy with the banal, Maida is usually saved by melody, especially on the undeniable arena-quality ock of OLP's string of hits. And it's these big, bursting singalongs that fare best on Live from Calgary and Edmonton, ranging from old favorites like "Superman's Dead" and "Naveed" to newer material like "Innocent" (which ends with a fawning crowd harmonizing on the song's uplifting chorus mantra). "Innocent" comes from OLP's 2002 release, Gravity, which behind the ubiquitous single "Somewhere Out There" became another monster hit at home. Live works as a cap to a year that saw the combo garner six Much Music Video Award nominations, and fans will appreciate its greatest-hit qualities. Maida himself has much the same range live as he does on record, even if some of his high notes waver a bit. But the album does end strong, ripping into "Clumsy" and "Whatever" with authority, and prefacing early single "Starseed" with a Jeff Buckley-style blue light interlude.