Super Furry Animals Can't Teach Canadians The Word "Beer" In Welsh

With a lunar eclipse underway, New York City's Jeffrey Lewis (whose album made NME's best-of-2007 list, for whatever that's worth) had the task of warming the shivering Toronto crowd huddling into the Mod Club to see the Super Furry Animals. Though his one-man acoustic show could have fallen flat on the rock-hungry crowd, he quickly won the room over with his simple, quirky songs and hand-painted "films," which were basically comics in storybook form that he sang along to while flipping the pages. Lewis had the crowd chuckling into their drinks consistently, especially during "The Chelsea Hotel Oral Sex Song," a charming ditty about how Leonard Cohen trivia almost got him laid once.

Not surprisingly, Columbus, Ohio's Times New Viking steered the show in a decidedly different direction. Any naysaying critics (of which there are several) would be hard-pressed to write the band off as just a bunch of hyped-up hacks after this performance. Yes, the trio seem like they literally just stumbled out of the garage last week, but you'd have to be a bitter, rock-hating crank to resist the ramshackle set of fuzzed-out pop nuggets they delivered here. Led by a hyperactive singing drummer who nearly knocked his entire drum kit over during the opening song (causing them to restart), there was an overall precariousness to their performance, and an element of surprise often lost on more established (read: professional) acts. It was refreshing, and that they managed to keep those boy-girl vocal harmonies nice and tight amidst all the chaos was truly impressive.

The night only got better from there when Super Furry Animals frontman Gruff Rhys walked on stage wearing an awesome red helmet that appears to have been stolen straight off the set of the Power Rangers. He proceeded to sing "Slow Life" by holding his mic to the helmet's eye while the band kicked out a huge-sounding rendition of the blipped-out electro rocker. As usual, the boys were sporting customized SFA gear, only this time rather than space suits (which they wore on their last tour) their outfits were craftily embroidered with the same weird psychedelic artwork plastered all over last year's Hey Venus! album. The outfits were less uniform, more wearable art.

From there, Rhys ditched the helmet for a guitar, and the five-piece got down to some serious rocking. After a rousing version of "(Building) Rings Around The World," they gave the eager crowd a taste of the new, doubling up "The Gateway Song" and "Run Away" to brilliant, shimmering rock effect. The band proceeded to dive into "Golden Retriever" and "Do Or Die," a couple of choice cuts from their varied back catalogue which both kept the rock vibe going. When they got to the poppier "Northern Lights," Rhys explained that they'd be doing a more stripped-down version of the song given that they'd left all their horns at home (though they were sure to bring along real carrots for the sound effects on "Receptacle For The Respectable" later in the show). Surely Hey Venus! producer and Broken Social Scenester Dave Neufeld, who was in the crowd, could have pulled some strings there. But as it turns out, it didn't matter as the song was just as great in skeletal form. By the time they launched into "She's Got Spies," a longtime personal fave, SFA really had the crowd cooking. That's all it took for the group of drunk thirty-something guys beside me to start pogo-hopping with reckless abandon.

Though they let up a few times — during "The Gift That Keeps On Giving," the sublimely sentimental "Juxtaposed With U," and a new, whimsical oddity written by lead guitarist Huw Bunford that consisted of he and Rhys chanting in really high registers while they had the entire crowd twiddling their fingers on their heads — this performance was all about Super Furry Animals the rock band.It's true that they do their ballads well, but as their rendition of the aforementioned multi-part medley "Receptacle For The Respectable" and "The Man Don't Give A Fuck" both proved, it's their whacked-out experimental side that solidifies their reputation as one of this era's most original rock bands.

Well, that and their raw talent. Bunford seems even more accomplished than when they rolled through town on the Love Kraft tour a couple years back. It was also endearing when he tried, but ultimately failed, to teach the crowd how to say beer in Welsh. His long-haired, bearded appearance no doubt added to the overall charm, but really he just seems to be getting better and better. But the same can be said for the band as a whole, really. Though they may have left some miffed when they failed to come back for an encore after nearly 10 minutes of cheering, SFA packed enough punch in their main set to leave most satisfied.