Some bands can learn a lot from the Super Furry Animals. You could enlist an army of keyboards or even one of the guys from Sebadoh to improve your live performance, but sometimes all it takes is getting the audience to wiggle their fingers above their heads and howl to have a good time. Last night at the 9:30 Club, the Furries managed to coax the audience into this bizarre display not once, but twice.

The Welsh rock/pop band were the draw of the night, with The Fiery Furnaces and the deceptively named Holy F*ck opening. If you’re going to name your band Holy F*ck, you pretty much have to play over-the-top punk or engage in wacky, self-destructive onstage antics. Not so much. Holy F*ck consisted of two keyboardists, who were mostly hunched over their gadgets, twiddling knobs, and a bassist and drummer. Every song was an extended jam, although sometimes there was call-and-response chanting courtesy of the keyboardists’ distorted vocals. It’s the type of music that’s fine for a video game or a movie soundtrack, but tends to wear thin in a live setting.

Photos by Kyle Gustafson.