Tuesday, March 30, 1999

Moffatts can really play

Make no mistake: The Moffatts are the real deal.

Of course, that's no guarantee the Canadian teen-pop band will still be popular when its four members -- all brothers, at present all 15 -- are of legal drinking age. However, one cannot dismiss the startling fact that these boys (not old enough for a driver's licence, for goodness sake) are a prodigiously tight musical unit unto themselves with smooth vocal harmonies that can only come from shared DNA.

The Moffatts' sold-out concert last night at the MacEwan Hall Ballroom featured just the four musicians -- on guitar, bass, keys and drums -- yet they singlehandedly had the 900 fans in attendance in a state of rapture.

Sure, they write lyrics you'd expect from 15-year-olds; rhyming "big city" with "she's pretty," for example. Musically, though, the Moffatts blend bubblegum pop with commercial rock as deftly as Hanson mixes bubblegum with Motown. The show had plenty of chunky guitar riffs, several creampuff ballads, a credible stab at Sly Stone's Thank You Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin (which segued into the big Moffatts hit, I'll Be There For You); and a new song, Until You Loved Me, that had a distinct Barenaked Ladies vibe.

Oh yes, and lots of screaming, happy kids.

Set List