Phases & Stages

Mando Diao, the Comas, Danko Jones

Emo's, May 16

Andy Herod shredding his bunk bed voice seemed easily explained. Following 35 minutes of Fred Flintstone punk from proselytizing Toronto trio Danko Jones, the Comas popstronaut apparently had little choice but to screech the pomp in Emo's filling front room. The North Carolina quintet floated the woozy breakup tunes of third album Conductor with Saturday morning abandon, "Moonrainbow" and "Tonight on the WB" mussing the sheets of lovelorn domesticity like a sleepy peck on the cheek. They proved the exceptions: LP highs "Hologram," "Invisible Drugs," and "This Commercial" exploded with triple the fervor of their recorded counterparts. Not easy keeping up with the Joneses. That's when Sweden's Mando Diao dished out the real explanation for the Comas' afterburners. Roadies and a studio-precise stage setup telegraphed the knockout about to be delivered, and on cue, abridged opener "Cut the Rope" crisped the fuse. Touching off the irresistible Britpop of the quartet's inclement sophomore victory, Hurricane Bar, "Rope" allowed the band (augmented with a drowned-out keyboardist) just enough slack for the noose to then snap necks on "White Wall," taut with the Clash's stomp-time London Calling. As red-shirted Gustaf Norén tore into the 38-minute set with a Lennon-esque gusto, counterpart Björn Dixgard whipped and bucked like a low-rent Rhett Miller. When Norén strapped on an acoustic guitar for "All My Senses," the Hives-hot frenzy of "Down in the Past," "If I Leave You," and bounding "Sheepdog," from 2003 debut full-length Bring 'Em In, caught a breather. The whole spectacle raged with the unmistakable immediacy of a Liverpudlian-crowned Cavern Club, particularly when Norén and Dixgard traded verses on "God Knows" at the end of the set. A stunned, ecstatic crowd demanded and got an encore, comely Comas siren Nicole Gehweiler, in the audience, glowing positively Mando Diao.