Two songs into last night's 19-song set before a near-capacity crowd at House of Blues, Cold War Kids singer Nathan Willett yelped, "I was supposed to do great things/I know the road was long" as the Los Angeles-based band launched into the jittery anthem "Miracle Mile." While Willett wrote the song about not living up to expectations, the band certainly proved itself last night in a rigorous 90-minute set that included several tunes from the band's new album Hold My Home. Mid-set, the band picked up some serious momentum as "Hang Me Up to Dry" careened with garage rock swagger. A stripped down segment featuring Willett on piano took things down a notch but by set's end, the show was really cranking again and it came to a noisy end with the punk-y "Something Is Not Right With Me," an exuberant tune that put a punctuation mark on a solid show. Opener Elliot Moss started the show off with a set of neo-psychedelic tunes that would have sounded sharper if the bass wasn't so deafening. The shoddy sound mix was a real deterrent.

Photos by Jeff Niesel