Phish, Aerosmith, The Dead, Bob Dylan; you’re guaranteed to catch a whiff of marijuana floating through the air at certain concerts...but Barenaked Ladies? “This is going to be a challenge for us as well as a challenge for you,” newly-mohawked singer/guitarist Ed Robertson said about their current “Peepshow” tour, on which they have promised to play each song they’ve ever recorded, including a nightly rundown of their entire sixth studio album, Everything to Everyone. Perhaps the ganj served as escape from this imposing challenge, because the performance, while certainly innovative, was a letdown to both the uninitiated and veterans of the band’s usually festive and unpredictable shows.

The Ladies had no opening act, but singer/guitarist/floutist/spastic dancer Steven Page encouraged the audience to think of the first set itself, including its abundance of new numbers, as the warm-up. “It’s like just like any other opening act,” he said. “You don’t know their stuff, but you’ve heard good things about them.”

Below five white four-pane window frames (“Peepshow,” get it?), Robertson, Page, bassist Jim Creegan, keyboardist Kevin Hearn and drummer Tyler Stewart dove right in to Everything with the telling lyrics “Would anybody cheer me / If I acted less like me?,” from “Testing 1,2,3,” followed in rapid succession by “Maybe Katie” and “Celebrity,” pausing only for the purple overalls-clad Hearn to sing a truncated ditty about his career as a blueberry farmer.

With no long-form improvisations or general excitement of unpredictability save the hilarious 12-year-old b-side “Steven Page is Having Our Baby,” the rest of the first set was only switched off autopilot for “It’s All Been Done,” “Enid” and Robertson’s dedication of “The War on Drugs,” one of Everything’s strongest non-commercial tracks, to the late Elliot Smith.

A 20-minute break ensued as stagehands moved equipment, and the Ladies reemerged to gather round a single microphone for acoustic renditions of “Lovers in a Dangerous Time,” “Straw Hat and Old Dirty Hank,” the new “For You” and uber-hit “One Week.” The segment was the hands-down highlight of the show, delivering a dose of nostalgia for their pre-Stunt days while simultaneously calling attention to the band’s remarkable and often overlooked talent for vocal harmony.

As part of the “Peepshow” experience, an audience Q&A was conducted with inane queries including “Where did the band’s name come from?” “ Will you sing the ___ song/improv a song about my girlfriend for me?” and “What does the ‘all the jeans will cream’ line in Celebrity mean?” The segment lumbered on far too long, culminating in upper-balcony chants of “No more questions!” and “Sing! Sing! Sing!” Then back to four new, plugged-in songs, including the token jokey first single “Another Postcard (Chimpanzees),” punctuated by Maroon’s “Never Do Anything.” The encore was more recognizable as a Barenaked entity, with the rare and underappreciated “The Wrong Man Was Convicted” from 1994's Maybe You Should Drive followed by welcomed hits “Brian Wilson” and “The Old Apartment.”

The Ladies have always been known for their unique live interaction, and although the current concert is certainly an admirable attempt to mix up their tried-and-true formula, the audience questions and spoon-feeding of new material isn’t quite the right type of interaction needed to maintain their status near the top of the geek-rock hierarchy. And it’s understandable to not play “Pinch Me,” but a Barenaked Ladies show without the rap medley and “If I Had $1,000,000"? Well that’s as criminal as a concert without any pot.