There might not have been quite as many Hilary Duff fans at Copps Coliseum last night as there have been at her previous concerts here. But they're a bit bigger now, taller, and so maybe, by weight and height, there was as much fan in the seats as in the past.

And even if the crowd did not have the literal weight and mass to equal past audiences, they had it figuratively.

The nine thousand or so fans were actually listening to the music and not just shrieking in fits of fan mania as they did two or three years ago.

They were wildly enthusiastic and dancing in their seats but they seemed prepared to follow Duff, who has also grown musically, as she moves her act into more adult territory.

The rhythms and lyrics are more challenging, the themes a tad more shadeed, but not radically. Just a tad.

Duff is making her transition in manageable strides, perhaps out of respect for her fans. And last night showed a lot of respect, not just for their ability to keep up with her changes but also for their need to still be children.

And, so, while she performed a healthy dose of songs from her new, more adult contemporary album Dignity -- Never Stop, and a churning take on Gypsy Woman -- she balanced them with almost as many hits from the past.

Duff, like so many child stars, is having to negotiate the passage into adulthood with all that means in terms of altered demographics, new material and adjustments in style.

We have seen what has happened to some of her contemporaries who have taken the curves too fast. She even did a song last night, the backdrop to which featured a fast-shifting montage of scandal sheet headlines.

Duff, for all the bump and grind in her show, mostly by her exceptional backup dancers, has preserved much of the sweetness and ingenue charm that her fans associate with an earlier stage in her career.Her between-song patter was full of positive values for young teens and those about to become ones.

Before the show last night, HECFI chief executive officer Duncan Gillespie presented Duff with a special jacket saying Hilary Duff Number One. This was to recognize that she has sold more tickets at Copps than any other solo artist -- 45,000, including a couple of almost instantly sold-out shows.

Her days of instant sellout might be on hold until she solidifies her new fan base. But if she keeps putting on shows like she did last night the fans will not desert her.

Last night's show did not sell out, but there was a more than respectable turnout and they brought a real energy which, when mingled with Duff's own and her band's, made for a night of memorable entertainment for an awful lot of young people, whose faces were beaming after the show.

There was a dynamic light show, some sparkling choreography, and a lot of very creative stagecraft.

On a lot of the more driving number, Duff may not have quite the voice or dancing prowess to carry all the locomotive power on her own and this is where the other elements of the presentation came strongly into play.

It is a big part of any star's artistry to know her or his own limitations. And when Duff got intimate with her audience on a heart-wrencher like Someone's Watching Over Me, she bore the whole weight of her show and her growing audience more than capably on her very own shoulders.

jmahoney@thespec.com

905-526-3306