Melissa Auf der Maur Fills Hole in NXNE Schedule

Canada's coolest bassist may be in the news because former boss Courtney Love is talking about a new Hole record and tour, but at NXNE Melissa Auf der Maur rocked out with her eponymous band.

But based on her performance at Yonge and Dundas Square, she may be better off with her old alt-rock outfit. Auf der Maur seemed better suited to supporting player status than frontwoman at the NXNE gig.

Auf der Maur still boasts stadium-honed stage presence and attracted a healthy audience for the free show, albeit only half the size of the surprisingly huge turnout for headliners Black Lips, whose ragged garage rock must have scared the bejeezus out of the middle-aged matrons leaving 'Riverdance.'

Her bass playing remains top-notch, and whenever her band dug down into low-end Black Sabbath-style riffage (with Auf der Maur playing basslines while whipping around her headbanger hair), it was enjoyable enough to forget that there weren't many memorable songs to be heard.

Maybe the band was out of practice -- she mentioned that they hadn't played since SXSW, but were "trying to oil [themselves] up" -- or maybe the amps weren't turned up loud enough at the city-sponsored gig.

Regardless, Auf der Maur proved she still knows how to rock and we look forward to her presence on the upcoming Hole tour.