Girls

Girls' lead singer Christopher Owens could teach a course on how to keep an audience engaged without ever having to acknowledge them. Without so much as a bonjour, Girls delivered a string of delightfully angsty retro rock songs from their recently released Father, Son, Holy Ghost album, including the latently Beach Boys-ish "Honey Bunny." Owens may not have said much, but his introverted demeanour and West Coast dirty-hair charm (plus the bouquets of flowers strung around the mic stands) were cute enough to make the audience not mind that they were almost being ignored. And who needs stage banter when the songs are good? Girls' most enthusiastic moments came during their encore when the audience had sunken into a pattern of polite and comfortable head-nodding, but "My Ma" (and earlier, single "Vomit") elicited big cheers. However, there was a void left by the lack of backup singers who appear on the album and make these songs especially touching. Without them, Owens is left in charge, and he doesn't always seem up to the task.