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Concert reviews Music

Predictable Pop

THE SUPERS with

PIGEONHOLE at the Rivoli, May

24. Tickets: $7. Attendance: 100. Rating:

NNN

Rating: NNN


the chatty crowd huddled

around candlelit tables at the Rivoli looked ready for a thrill-packed night of theatre sports or stand-up comedy.

That’s not quite the sort of entertainment the Supers had planned for the re-launch of their Spklanng! debut disc, although they did their best to keep a U2 gag running through their set. The Toronto power poppers’ first few pleasantly harmonized numbers indicated that the tables and chairs set up on the dance floor weren’t going to cramp anyone’s style.

It’s hard to get too excited about the Supers studiously crafted tunes. Sure, their stuff is catchy — they’ve obviously spent long hours fine-tuning chord progressions and plotting the hooks. But hearing each song delivered essentially the same way, with singer/songwriters Maury Lafoy and Graham Powell alternating leads, turned the performance into a dull recital.

It soon became possible to predict the precise moment in each song when guitarist Tim Bovaconti would drop in his neatly picked solo according to the standard Beatles verse-chorus-bridge blueprint. No concessions were made for things like substance and surprise.

Really, all that separates the Supers from the popular boy bands is some fancy dance steps, shiny pants, some hair gel and, of course, a hit record.

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