It takes a little bit of nerdiness and research to discover influential 1980s post-punks The Raincoats. Yes, Kurt Cobain praised them in the liner notes of the Incesticide EP and yes, Heath Ledger’s character name dropped them in Ten Things I Hate About You. But since they haven’t released an album since 1996, understanding that they’ve influenced two generations of female (and male) punk rockers with their understated but incendiary music is usually left to aforementioned punk rockers and supremely nerdy music fans.

It turns out there are a lot of those. Comet Ping Pong was barely navigable by the time current Ian Svenonius/Brendan Canty project Felt Letters kicked the show off on Saturday night. Also, they proved that it didn’t take nearly the same dedication to enjoy their set. They started their set off with three energetic tracks, and Burch’s growling during “No One’s Little Girl”. “We’re old ladies now,” she quipped. “But we’re old ladies who rock!”

Apparently, they rock harder than half of their audience. They admitted to playing the show on three hours of sleep, which, as the clock neared the 2:00 a.m. mark, most of the crowd, despite being half the age of the band, proved that they could not do. The packed audience petered out a little bit they moved from their more visceral material and into songs wherein the heavy but straightforward lyrical content about feminism and — owning dogs (but never having to change diapers!) — outshone the fact that they could make their squealing guitars sound like laughter.

Yet, they never lost their energy. Violinist Anne Wood continued hopping during a late set edition of “Don’t Be Mean”, and their encore performances of “Fairytale in the Supermarket” and “In Love” prompted the loudest sing-a-longs of the night. The faces of the remaining crowd at the end of the night served as proof that sometimes a band requires some dedication — but dedication pays off.