It's Friday night, February 16, and the Barenaked Ladies are about to come onstage at UMass' Mullins Center. Four monitors surrounding the stage begin to show strange cartoon-like patterns, using the designs that decorate the cover of the Ladies' new CD, "Maroon," while an eerie voice recites a nursery rhyme-like poem. Suddenly, two giant oddly-shaped balloons appear on stage and float towards the ceiling. At the same time, the lights at the back of the stage come on, revealing a giant brightly colored mask that makes up the background of the stage. The mask's mouth opens, and the Ladies run out. Immediately, the entire audience is on their feet and cheering, as the band launches into "Too Little Too Late," the first track from "Maroon."

Chantal Kreviazuk, the opening act, did not receive the same effusive response. Kreviazuk's lyrics, though trying to tackle the grand issues of the world, only managed to sound pretentious; the music was ill-fitted to her voice and singing style. Roughly half the arena was filled to hear her sing; this pales in comparison to the sold-out audience that was in place by the time the Barenaked Ladies, one of Canada's hottest exports, took the stage.

The rest of the BNL show managed to sustain the same level of entertainment and enthusiasm as their entrance. Amidst jokes, hilarious dance segments, a short film clip in which a Canadian moose beats up an American bald eagle (the Ladies are Canadian) and freestyle rhyme ("This girl from my past / Had a ridiculous ass / She attended UMass / And she passed every class"), the Ladies played hits, as well as lesser-known songs, from most of their albums. Much of the night's selection came from their new CD.

Most of the audience, both young and old, seemed to know the lyrics to nearly every song and sang along eagerly.

The penultimate song of the set was their best known among loyal fans: "If I Had A Million Dollars." The Ladies played it with plenty of jokes and gags between verses, such as a flashing sign on the monitors which read "Don't feed the band" when the lyrics of the song talked about eating Kraft dinner. At this point, in accordance with tradition, members of the audience threw macaroni and cheese at the band.

The Ladies finished off the set with a medley of rap songs, "Memories" from the Broadway musical "Cats," a Sesame Street tune, and Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On," before running back into the clown mask's mouth.

After their exit, most of the audience remained in their places, yelling for the encore that they knew was coming. Of course, the Ladies appeared again, to play "Light Up My Room" and "Go Home" for their first encore. They followed up by playing one of their most beautiful songs, "Call and Answer," the perfect endnote for a night of impeccable musicianship.