The Moffatts didn't sell out Centennial Hall last night, but the four brothers from B.C. still made some Canadian rock history.
It'll be the last time the Moffatts are on a stage together for a while -- and maybe even longer. Like forever. The estimated 900 fans, happy to scream along with the platinum-selling Moffatt hits, may not
all have not known what was happening with their teen heroes.
"They've got to figure some stuff out," said Frank Moffatt, father to triplets Clint, Dave and Bob and their older brother, Scott. Keyboard player and teen heart-throb Dave Moffatt is heading to Australia for a
prolonged trip and the other three are off to hiatus-land, their father said just before the show.
After the show, tearful fans hugged Dave Moffatt and wished him well before he drove off. Centennial Hall official Brad Jones said that "in six months" every fan in the audience would come to realize it was
"the last Moffatts show -- ever" that rocked the London hall last night.
"I know the three other guys (Dave's brothers) are writing only rock music," Frank Moffatt said. But he predicted last night's show, heavy with material from their recent album Submodalities (EMI), wouldn't be
their last outing. The Moffatts also have another album to record.
Meanwhile, they're just tired -- having made the 10-year trip from family band to rock band -- of being pegged as a "boy band" over and over again.
The show itself was heavy with hints a break is no bad thing. The opener last night was also the first track from Submodalities, called "Just Another Phase."
A line from the night's second song had guitarist Scott Moffatt singing, "This is the end of the beginning," and bassist Clint Moffatt later
spelled out the brothers' history -- starting out as a family outfit, trying on country, then pop and now rock.
"I think this represents where we are now," Clint Moffatt said before the brothers launched into a new rock tune. But they also made the fans stay with the new stuff by mixing it carefully with their hits, including "Girl of My Dreams" and "I'll Be There For You."
By mid-set, the Moffatts had also checked out more tunes from Submodalities, including "Life On Mars," "Walking Behind" and "California."
Scott Moffatt was in feisty form all the way. He got in a shot at a sign somewhere in the audience about Hanson, the U.S. kid band which has been a nuisance to the Moffatts' serious aspirations as musicians. Nobody
listens to Hanson any more, he said to more cheers and screams.
Unlike some of the pre-fab teen outfits around, the Moffatts have earned all those cheers and screams the hard way -- by playing their own instruments, writing their own songs and growing from boys to young men
in public. No wonder their dad seemed proud of them from his spot at the back of the hall.
The opening act, the all-girl LiveOnRelease, provided the perfect contrast to the Moffatts. Also from B.C., the pop-punkers LiveOnRelease walk on the wild side.
They already know how to play with a bad-girl attitude. At least one four-letter word popped out amid all the band's jumping and arm-pumping and a few of the Moffatt fans applauded sarcastically when it came time for the openers' last song.
But that wasn't fair either. LiveOnRelease are like the Moffatts tougher, mouthier kid sisters -- and the four don't mind the abuse a bit.
