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Things I lost count of at the Three Days Grace/Default concert Thursday night:

The number of times a board-jumper was tackled by security

The number of people texting rather than paying attention

The number of tokes taken by the people four rows down

The number of fireballs

The number of times a front man said the F word

Thursday's concert was fairly cliché as far as concerts go - pyro, swearing, lots of beer, illegal substances, a fun jaunt through the crowd by Three Days Grace lead singer Adam Gontier - but no mosh pit. What's up with that?

It didn't help that Canadian band Default were the middle act - they make Nickelback look progressive. They're what my Grandmother would choose if she were forced to pick an alt-rock band to like. Benign, bland, and safe, the band wasn't one for banter and went through their hits without taking a single chance.

And what didn't help Default, who probably don't deserve to be slagged as bad as I just slagged them, was muddy sound and even worse backup track mixing. I could not understand one word that front man Dallas Smith sang, even though I know all of their hit songs. I could tell that Smith has an absolutely fantastic voice and he was all over All Over Me. I just wish the band would get out from Chad Kroeger's thumb and reach their potential.

But I digress. Most of the 3,500 people weren't there to see Default, they were there to see Three Days Grace, who thankfully did not play it safe, resulting in a simmering hour and a half set - the best rock set played in Prospera Place since Kid Rock.

And the fans were happy the band finally made it to the arena - the band had to cancel their November show due to a family emergency and rescheduled for January. At times fans were restless, but for most of the show, they were jumping up and down and fist-pumping with the best of them.

The hits from Three Days Grace's self-titled debut album were there, including musical highlight of the night Wake Up, which had a sexy new melodic line from guitarist Barry Stock. Loved it.

They didn't ignore their second album One-X, and are touring in support of their current album, Life Starts Now. Critic reaction to the newest album has been mixed, mostly because it's a lot less angry than their first two. They provided a few songs from the album, including hit Break and World So Cold. While I didn't mind World So Cold, they do angry better - at least right now.

The guys obviously recognize that drummer Neil Sanderson is a star unto himself, and they gave him an absolutely smoking five-minute drum solo on a rotating 360 degrees raised platform, that reverberated through the rafters long after it ended. It was some of the best drumming I've seen - ever.

Three Days Grace ended their 17-song night with a three-song encore (Lost in You, Just Like You and Animal I Have Become) and lots of fire, strobe lights and extended solos.

illScarlett provided an energetic head-banging opening set, but guitarist Will Marr's stage dancing at the end had the crowd in giggles - probably not the reaction he was going for. Sometimes, it just doesn't pay to wear skinny jeans.

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