RSFCO

They didn't start with Start Me Up. After more than a month off, the Rolling Stones rejigged their set list before 18,000 fans at the Bell Centre last night, opening with what had been a late-show favourite in the fall - Jumpin' Jack Flash.

And from the get-go, it was clear that Mick Jagger and his, er, boys were in fine form. While looking a tad scrawny, the flamboyant frontman has lost little of his pep. He bounded out, skipping, strutting, dancing, arms flailing, hands casting imaginary spells.

"Salut les quebecois," he said at song's end, to the standing, roaring crowd. It was the first of many French greetings, and old favourites.

After pushing through She's So Cold, Tumblin' Dice and the new Oh No Not You Again, Jagger paused to catch his breath.

"Tout va bien?" he asked, pulling up his T-shirt, exposing his bellybutton. "J'espere que oui. Now we're going to do a really old song, which I'm trying to remember the words to."

It was Tears Go By, and it was beautiful. With Keith Richards and Ron Wood on acoustic guitars, and Charlie Watts offering up a muffled backbeat, the swaying classic showed the flipside to the Stones' party-rockin' antics, as well as the emotional resonance of Jagger's voice.

There were several such moments, where the band exceeded expectations and proved that while they are clearly getting up there, they can still put out. A perfect example was Midnight Rambler, turned into a multi-textured, 10-minute epic that went from barroom stomper to esoteric blues jam and back.

Or Get Off My Cloud, rendered with playful understatement from the back of the arena (after an entire section of the stage carried the band across the room). Honky Tonk Woman took them into the hit-filled homestretch - and sent this reporter off to meet deadline.

But lo and behold, they had done it again. The leather-faced lugs had looked old-fogeyism in the eyes and laughed - cackled, even. And with ticket prices topping out at $350, you can bet they did so all the way to the bank.

Hometown rocker Anik Jean struggled through an uneven set to ultimately win over the sparse early-evening crowd.

tdunlevy