Nick Lowe News

Most bands would save the big song for late in a show or an encore, but OK Go played its current video hit "Here It Goes Again" early on during the group's set Sunday night at the Troubadour in West Hollywood. The move showed that this Chicago foursome has confidence in its other equally appealing material, also loaded with bouncy melodies and hooky riffs.

The band's songs are like musical chocolate bars, semi-sweet and often packed with lyrical nuttiness. The quartet follows Nick Lowe's "Pure Pop for Now People" concept of nearly three decades back, drawing from past decades of rock and pop -- especially the 1970s and '80s -- while also surging forward to sound fresh and original.

Playing in front a large screen filled with assorted graphic and animated images as well as larger-than-life live shots from the stage, the group was an energetic bunch, ready to bust out of its button-down shirts and loose ties, though their jackets came off pretty quickly.

As the band mixed songs from its self-titled 2002 Capitol debut and last year's "Oh No," chatty frontman Damian Kulash flashed devilish grins while taking swipes at his guitar and whipped around the microphone cord while doing spastic son-of-Jagger rooster struts back and forth across the stage.

Even without the band-on-treadmills visuals that have made "Here It Goes Again" a video channel and Internet hit, the tune fired-up the full house of dedicated fans. Kulash praised the crowd for being "uber-nerds," then added, "It makes us feel comfortable and at home."

The club turned into a coffee house for a pair of harmony-filled acoustic takes of "What to Do" and "A Million Ways" performed in the middle of the floor with the group surrounded by fans holding camera phones up high to capture the memory.

While every song didn't hit the target dead center, there were plenty of power-chord-fueled delights, such as the surf music-styled rave-up "Television" and the giddy "You're So Damn Hot." Rock 'n' roll swagger pushed "Invincible" and the glammy mantra of "Get Over It."

The group is known for eclectic choices in cover songs, and this night brought a frantic rendition of the Damned's punk classic "Neat Neat Neat" and ELO's backbeat blaster "Don't Bring Me Down."

OK Go is more than just OK and definitely rarin' to go on to bigger success, perhaps with the current album's rerelease next week as a CD-DVD package. But no matter what that commercial outcome holds, the band already is a fab foursome.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter