Okay, there were cheers.

 But no, there were no tears. There were no fears, either.

 Last night's Tears For Fears show at the Danforth Music Hall would have been more interesting if there had been.

 Unfortunately, the one-time hitmakers from Britain were too commonplace to be terrible.

  So they were met with exuberant aplomb from the capacity crowd of 1,250 when they encored with hits like Sowing The Seeds Of Love and Shout.

 Roland Orzabal, the only original Tear For Fear and the band's sole creative force, put so much energy into perfecting the sound of his group on his latest opus, Raoul And The Kings Of Spain, that he glossed over the fact that he's come up short on actual songwriting quality.

 That fact was glaringly -- and blaringly -- obvious last night.

 Now a seven-piece outfit, TFF looked somewhat awkward in their sequins 'n' vinyl Trent Reznor getups as they broke into the delicate opening track, Los Reyes Catolicos, and then into the bright and bouncy strains of Sorry.

 The band cannot be faulted for dressing in the latest rock fashions.

  But with bleating samples and a heavy-handed rhythm section, they looked and sounded like an adult contemporary answer to Nine Inch Nails

 Technical troubles hindered the opening notes of the night's first hit, 1985's breezy Everybody Wants To Rule The World, prompting Orzabal to joke:

 "We weren't going to play that one anyway."

 It's a good thing they did: It prompted the first sign of life from an increasingly responsive crowd.

 Orzabal can still deliver the goods vocally.

 Considering the damage done to the hit Woman In Chains by overpowering bass levels, the guy deserves some credit.

 He raised a few eyebrows with a version of Radiohead's relatively recent chartopper Creep.

 It seemed like a fine way for Orzabal to show off his great voice, but things ultimately grew trite.

 "I don't belong here," he said, reprising a line from the song.

  "But now I do ... to you."

 Uh-huh.

 Sun Rating: 2 out of 5