Whenever a band from the South takes the stage – particularly at an indie rock club – conventional indie rock expectations should go out the window. Or, at least, a different type of wisdom seems to apply. Just like no one was terribly surprised when Isaac Brock sliced himself onstage, or when they found out that seeing Cat Power live can be an awkward experience, or that Jeff Tweedy will probably fire a current member of Wilco in the next six months, no one’s ever really shocked to see a Southern band playing loud and long, and stumbling drunk around the stage. In that regard, it was another loud, sloppy night from the South’s latest purveyors of road-tested rock, Memphis’ Lucero.

After the promising American Princes and soul-blues-jammers Catfish Haven had warmed things up, Lucero came out to a rowdy, well-lubricated crowd, fists-pumping and ready to roll. The show felt like a sprinter trying to run a marathon, with lead singer Ben Nichols and company trying to go as hard as possible, only to get worn down, take a rest, then do it again for the next song. “I Can Get Us Out of Here Tonight” was the second song and they played it like it was their last – Nichols’s voice wailing like he’d been eating gravel all night, and the piano lifting up at the close of every chorus. “Nights Like These,” from their early release Tennessee, was laced with thick organ and proved (to some of us admittedly less in touch with real Southern rock these days) that the Drive-By Truckers – or anyone else for that matter – don’t have a copyright on this type of music.