What can we say about Phoenix? They were wonderful last year, and their second trip to D.C. upheld that high standing. A small but enthusiastic crowd greeted the four boys of Phoenix, joined for the performance by an incredibly impressive drummer and a new keyboardist (filling in while their normal man on keys tends to his newborn). Touring to promote their new album, It's Never Been Like That (out in stores May 23), the band played a satisfying mix of old and new, making the most of their poppy, decade-blending brand of rock throughout the show.

"Les Mains en l'air, s'il vous plait." When he wasn't giving the audience French lessons, Thomas Mars' charmed the crowd with vocals that are so sweet and strong, they smooth the edges off of every offering, even darker songs like "Funky Squaredance." (Yes, a song named "Funky Squaredance" is dark, at least comparatively so.) Phoenix soared through an extra long, suped up live version of "If I Ever Feel Better," and treated the audience to two separate versions of "Everything Is Everything" (one full band kick ass take, and one acoustic revisit in the encore) -- which almost made up for them not playing their best song, "Too Young." (Which many of you may know from the Lost In Translation soundtrack.) Aside from his aforementioned vocal skills, Mars lead the band with a humbled appreciation for the crowd. He looked almost embarassed as each song finished and he took in the crowd's squeals and applause, detracting nothing from the charm factor. The band even missed the introduction to one song due to the volume of the cheers coming from the under-capacity crowd. It served up a pleasant side of warm fuzzies to go with the main course of danceable rock n roll.

The band's catalog was limited due to the recent arrival of their new keyboardist, so the majority of the encore was an accoustic gift from Mars and guitarist Christian Mazzalai (not to be confused with their other guitarist and Mazzalai's brother, Laurent Brancowitz). Before Phoenix was Phoenix, they were the backing band for label-mates Air, which explains the Air cover. Anybody know which song that was, by the way? Though we spent a good portion of the show giggling at their extremely continental demeanor, pronounciation of words like "says" and "everything," and the part of "If I Ever Feel Better" that sounds like they're saying "remind me to spend time go down on you," I paid close enough attention to know that Phoenix lost none of their appeal the second time around. If they return to D.C. and the 9:30 Club fails to sell out yet again, we're calling shenanigans on this city's "good taste." The moral of the story: Phoenix are great! And French! Make it a point to catch these guys the next chance you have, because even when they don't play "Too Young," their show still makes for a better, more original show than we often see around this town.

Photos by Kyle Gustafson.