Guess all that time spent on the road did David Berman some good, eh? Despite his reputation as a hermetic, troubled intellectual, Berman was in rare form when he performed with his Silver Jews at the Black Cat on Wednesday night. Sure, Berman might have had the stage presence of an English professor–what did you expect?–but he genuinely seemed to be enjoying himself up there as he paced up and down the stage, dryly singing his way through a night full of wordy, cerebral narratives. It helped that his band, anchored by wife Cassie, was totally on point and that the night’s setlist–heavy on songs from the recent Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea, as well as the band’s 2001 masterpiece Bright Flight–was impeccably chosen and sequenced.

Also worthy of note was opening act Monotonix, a garage-punk three-piece from Tel Aviv, Israel. The band set themselves up in the middle of the room and proceeded to move their entire setup–including the drum set–throughout the room over the course of their confrontational, theatrical set. Why would the relatively subdued Silver Jews choose a band that evokes the sweaty intensity of a basement show to open up for them? We can think of only one good reason: Berman wanted to freak out some squares.