Have you ever seen The Ratpack perform live? YouTube some of that. Try to push the subtle (and overt) racism and sexism out of your mind and focus on the dynamic. The jokes, the genuine friendship, and the cohesive group dynamic. That style of music performance lost a lot of popularity with the advent of the arena rock band (not trashing those, I love them too). It became less about putting on an act and more about putting on a show.

We Are Scientists brought the act back—and a fair amount of show with it. New York rockers and funny men Keith Murray and Chris Cain have been in the biz for a fair amount of time. While they may not sell out a Vegas show, they packed Boot & Saddle with a rowdy bunch of appreciative fans, enough so that two shows were required to contain the madness.

When not crushing their unique blend of garage, punk, and pop rock, the NYC kids entertained the crowd with geography lessons, seafood sandwich recommendations, onstage acrobatics, and a few martinis. Less like a rehearsed act, more like the friends we all hoped that Matt Leblanc and Matthew Perry were in real life. There was no shortage of good times on the tail end of their stop in the city of brotherly love.

Openers PAWS had some fun with the crowd beforehand. Slamming down some good old-fashioned crunchy guitars and hammered drums that were ripped from the pages of The Violent Femmes handbook. Equally adept at charming the crowd with thick Scottish accents and comparisons of the homeland to New Jersey as they were at banging heads, they were a worthy start to the evening