Nada Surf + Rogue Wave + Inara George

It may have been Oscar night in Hollywood, but to the emo-fied teens who took up residence at Chicago’s Metro, the night belonged to Nada Surf. Well, mostly. The band may have had top billing, but everyone was more than happy to see them share the stage with fellow performers Rogue Wave and Inara George.

With a guitarist and keyboard player by her side, adorable overgrown pixie Inara George — daughter of Little Feat’s Lowell George — took to the stage to woo the crowd with clear-voiced folksy lullabies. In between jokes about getting her guitarist laid on the road, George charmed the crowd that had begun to fill the main level of the Metro. Sounding like a rainy-day blend of Mirah and a classic French chanteuse, George mixed her set with selections from her solo debut, All Rise and new songs. She sang her poppy melodies with crackling energy, and her more passionate ballads smoldered. And the crowd was lulled — perhaps a bit too much so. At times the songs seemed more suited to a cozy coffee shop than a cavernous rock venue, a charge George ‘fessed up to near the end of the set. Gazing out at the rapt audience, she apologized for subduing everyone right before the party was about to start. Next up, Rogue Wave came crashing through the dreamy haze with “Bird on a Wire” from 2005’s Descended Like Vultures. (I can’t help but wonder if this song is an ode to the Mel Gibson/Goldie Hawn cop comedy of the same name. Doubt it.) Fronted by the deceptively Bam Margera-ish Zach Rogue, this SoCal band wears its heart on its sleeve and bears more than a passing sonic resemblance to the Shins.

Live, Rogue Wave are known for turning their irrepressibly catchy hooks into thick, complex layers of sound , transforming album versions into vital, one-of-a-kind creations. Though the band churned out songs from their two full-length albums at a steady clip to make the most of a short set, they still managed to achieve those custom-made moments — at one point they wove a bit of “Postage Stamp World” into “Every Moment”, much to the crowd’s glee. Another highlight was closer “Love’s Lost Guarantee”, which sent the set out with a bang, Rouge pushing his vocal chords to the limit in a screaming finale. This is my second time seeing Rogue Wave. While last September, at the far more intimate Empty Bottle, they blew me away, this time they merely impressed. Maybe it was the compressed set or the size of the venue, but Rogue and Co just weren’t quite as loud, innovative, or energetic.

After Rogue Wave’s set ended, the elaborate preparations for Nada Surf began: about ten huge mirrored disks, like part of a giant’s drum set, were brought out, and clouds of fog began to billow across the stage. The crowed thinned a bit. Taking a page from High Fidelity (appropriate for Chicago, I suppose), Nada Surf opened on a high note and took it up a notch for the second song, effectively reeling the audience to them. In a nod to the dusting of snow the city received the night before, the band opened up with “Blizzard of ’77” then switched to a stomping, rocking version of “Hi-Speed Soul”. While bassist Matthew Lorca raged, whipping his dreadlocks like something out of a Sepultura video, the band worked its way through Let Go, playing songs like “Happy Kid”, and “Fruit Fly”. When they played “Inside of Love”, sweaty, diehard fans on the floor mouthed every word while high-school-aged couples made out in the balcony. The highlights of the sold-out show — a first for this band at the Metro — were the surprises: their long ago sworn-off hit “Popular” was played, members of Rogue Wave members and Inara George made appearances, and the band did a beautiful cover of the Smiths’ “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out”. Not to be outdone by all this, singer-guitarist Matthew Caws not so cryptically announced they would back for another go this summer at Lollapalooza. Sounds good; let’s just hope they bring more friends along.