I saw my Portland darlings, Parenthetical Girls, open for British sensations Los Campesinos! last Saturday night at Los Angeles’ Echoplex.  If you are familiar with the Brit poppers, then you probably know how devoted their fans are, and you also probably know that they are rumored to put on a kick ass live show. These are both facts, and for this, I can only imagine what it would feel like to tour with the seven-piece, cast in its shadow.

Fortunately for Zac Pennington and his Parenthetical Girls, this didn’t seem like much of an issue. Hailing from Portland, I’ve seen the band in every incarnation (including a dinky, lo-fi, two person project in Portland’s Lewis and Clark College dorm lobby), and every time I see the troupe, its live performance grows in magnificence—this night was no different. Pennington’s flamboyant, eccentric mannerisms meshed effortlessly with the crowd, as he shared quirky anecdotes about touring and music and why he loves LA more than San Francisco.

Pennington’s energy was bursting as soon as he stepped foot on stage, sauntering from one end to the other, standing on his amplifiers to get a better look at the audience, or even climbing down to the floor and winding through the crowd, with microphone (it had a cord, mind you) in hand. He engaged the audience like only Mr. Pennington can, as he and his band emitted grandiose, theatrical avant-pop selections ranging from the band’s vast music catalog (it’s released three LPs and numerous EPs to date), including a cover of The Smith’s “Handsome Devil,” off Parenthetical Girls’ Covers album, which the band released last March.

The crowd was so entranced by the spectacle in front of it that many people looked as if they forgot they were here to see Los Campesinos!. All around me, people talked about how great this band was and how they wanted to hear more songs—a feat for any “opening” band, especially one on tour with the likes of Los Campesinos!. But it’s not surprising that the group won over the crowd—they have that effect on people and did the same thing to me almost ten years ago back in that college dorm lobby. I could sense his potential then, when he was plucking on a xylophone and softly singing to the crowd of twenty, and it’s great to see how far he and his band has come since that night. They deserve it.