It’s funny how things work out in the music business. For Canadian rock act Our Lady Peace, nothing could be closer to the truth. While their previous records seemed to achieve mild mainstream rock success and then fade away, the retooled quintet seem to have finally hit a chord with fans stateside on their latest, Gravity. What’s funny is that the band is finally gaining popularity (recent #9 Billboard 200 charting) on the strength of an album that is certainly not their best. Although a solid listen, especially the first three tracks, Gravity just doesn’t stack up with the rest of the OLP catalogue, specifically Spiritual Machines from 2001.

Labeled as “too conceptual,” Spiritual Machines was mildly welcomed by fans and scolded by critics for “trying too hard.” Linking concepts from George Orwell’s “1984” amongst a varied and gratifying matrix of contemporary rock, Spiritual Machines should have been a dark horse favorite for album of the year, but nothing of the sort occurred, because everyone was too busy listening to Radiohead.

So with the sudden stateside popularity of Our Lady Peace, the question seems to be — where have all the stateside fans been during the past five years? That’s a question that lead singer Raine Maida and the rest of Our Lady Peace confronted at Milwaukee’s Summerfest on the fourth of July.

Summerfest has progressed from an affordable haven for music lovers to catch a slew of acts to the equivalent of one of those really bad parking lot carnivals, where the rides always seem to break and where everyone owns Bongo jeans and a tank top.

Unfortunately for fans of Our Lady Peace, their set took place on the terribly planned Miller Lite stage, which in addition to being overly decorated with “Miller Time” logos, is prefaced by about thirty rows of bleachers bolted to the concrete. The bleachers (used to avert moshing) are used as pedestals for drunk, fair weather fans to block the view of everyone else behind them. The result is that about three-fourths of the crowd can’t see a thing.

Those lucky enough to snag one of the bleacher positions are inevitably confronted with many of the aforementioned fans trying to balance themselves on the narrow bleachers after drinking an entire flask of Peppermint Schnapps. The results are annoying to say the least. So when Our Lady Peace took the stage in front of thousands of people cheering them, they seemed taken aback.

Singer Raine Maida even commented, “I really didn’t know we had this many fans in Milwaukee,” midway through OLP’s near-blistering set.

Taking the stage in a navy zip up sweater, Maida gripped the microphone as new guitarist, Steve Mazur opened the set with the searing guitar notes of “All For You,” the lead track from Gravity and certainly one of the best on the album. As Mazur stuck to traditional rock star guitar moves and bassist Duncan Coutts yelled at his bass tech to fix his equipment, Maida controlled the stage as he always does.

Next up was “Do You Like It,” the best of the tracks on the new, Bob Rock (Mr. Hawaii) produced record. Coming more and more alive as the set wore on, Maida’s vocals were forceful and melodic as the band continued to rip through what began as a very tight set.

During the cut “One Man Army,” from Happiness Is Not A Fish That You Can Catch, Maida refused to confine himself to the Miller Lite stage. Staring down the inebriated crowd from a height of at least ten feet, Maida sang the luckily, not ironic line “I don’t want to remember falling,” in a slowed down version of the track before returning to the safety of the stage.

OLP sped up the music and enhanced their aggression on “Whatever,” a track they made for fellow countryman and legendary wrestler Chris Benoit, otherwise known as “The Canadian Crippler.” The crowd didn’t seem to know whom Maida was referring to in his introduction to the song, but it didn’t matter, they wouldn’t remember in the morning anyway.

Finishing with standard set closer “Starseed,” Maida once again acknowledged how shocked the band was to have so many fans in Milwaukee, before the band filed off the stage en route to their next tour stop as Our Lady Peace are finally beginning to get the respect that they deserve.