On Wednesday night, Los Angeles’ Bootleg Theatre hosted a celebratory show for local punk-meets-soul outfit, PAPA. RACES and THE FRANKS also hailing from the City of Angels, joined the duo-turned-quartet for a kickass night of rock ‘n’ roll.

The guys (and gal) of The Franks set the night off to a playful start with their loud, rambunctious take on ‘50s rock and ‘70s punk. The trio’s straightforward, raw songwriting got the crowd riled up, setting a nice stage for the bands to come.

RACES were next and it was a miracle that every member fit on Bootleg’s tiny, wooden stage. To give an accurate description of the band, think Arcade Fire (there are six members), but instead of calling Canada their home, the outfit is from the South. The sextet has a beautiful, epic wall of sound, male/female vocal harmonies, and sleek indie songwriting qualities that can recently be attributed to the aforementioned band’s influences. However, they puts a western twist to these sounds, strumming twangy guitar riffs and shaking tambourines, giving it a powerfully distinct sound. Although RACES’ music was different than their predecessors, the crowd was just as intrigued and spellbound, still in a daze when the band left the stage.

Lastly, PAPA the headliners took the stage. The quartet released their long-awaited debut EP, A Good Woman is Hard to Find, in early October, but due to a weeklong, west coast tour with San Francisco indie rockers, Girls, PAPA decided to combine its homecoming and EP release on a single night. Now, to be honest with you all, I wasn’t the biggest fan their sound, but seeing it live gave me a whole new perspective.

Where I found the record lacking soul and energy, the live performance made up for it tenfold. Every member of the band was so into his music, moving around the stage as if he were in a trance. Vocalist/drummer Darren Weiss was dead on, pounding on his drum set, while he belted out lyrics of love and deceit in a monstrous vibrato. Every person in the crowd was pushed as far up to the stage as space would allow, dancing and singing along, giving PAPA a well-deserved welcome home.