Cincinnati loves Spider-Man hard rock of the Canadian variety.

        Nickelback and Default led the way at this year's WEBN Fringefest, an eight-hour concert at Riverbend Music Center Monday, and the spirited crowd put in its full day and stood and cheered all the way through each set by the two bands.

        It began at 2:30 p.m. with Familiar 48, one of three lesser-known groups performing on a second stage inside the concourse just to the side of the main entrance. Epidemic and Greenwheel followed, and then at 5 p.m. the show shifted to the main stage, with sets from Injected, Jerry Cantrell, Default and Nickelback.

        Vancouver's Nickelback headlined, and the four-man band came off like those big, dumb, catchy hard-rockers Creed, only without the religious undertones and with more bigness, dumbness and catchiness.

        Singer Chad Kroeger was the main attraction, wailing his way through the show and handling the lead-guitar duties. Between songs he was peppering monologues with drug references, and in song introductions, he gave the crowd a head's up to listen out for upcoming saucy lyrics.

        Despite all its fury, its brand of hard rock is fairly bland. It was, in fact, Nickeback's quieter moments that made the show.

        The band called out Mr. Cantrell to do a song from his old band Alice In Chains, and the selection, “It Ain't Like That,” was the performance of the night, with Mr. Cantrell's understated vocals and guitar work a reprieve from the Nickelback way of doing business.

        Its encore had lighter moments, as well. It began with an acoustic version of “Hero,” Mr. Kroeger's hit song from the Spider-Man soundtrack. “I'm still the only loser on the planet who hasn't seen (the movie),” he revealed.

        Default, another four-piece from Vancouver, played derivative hard rock as well, but not as powerfully as Nickelback.

        Singer Dallas Smith sounded like REO Speedwagon's Kevin Cronin trying to sing hard rock, especially during “Blind,” Default's Spidey-soundtrack tune.

        Mr. Cantrell's set was Alice In Chains-heavy, and he finished it off with a three-song block of classics — “Would?,” “Down in a Hole” and “Them Bones.”

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