For whatever reason, I didn’t expect last night’s Glasvegas show at Chop Suey to be sold out. But then, I’m kind of terrible at predicting numbers. Still, some other music fan friends of mine seemed equally surprised, asking, “How did you know about this show?” as if this band were a secret, and all 500 of us there just happened to be in on it.

So, what has Carl Barat been up to since the Libertines? Eh…not much, apparently. His set last night consisted of him playing solo (sensible, given the kind of band-mates he attracts), strumming on an electric guitar and singing mumbly, mopey bar ballads. He wasn’t turned up too loud, and towards the back of the bar he was competing with what seemed like a lot of bar chatter, But up front, fans were cheering, and, towards the end of his set, when he played Libertines song "Can't Stand Me Now," clapping and singing along. Later, some girls posed with him for a cell phone photo, possibly unaware that, in the background of the shot, were Peter Buck and Sean Nelson (Nelson demurely covering his face).

There was a lot of accents in the audience, a handful of Scots in the crowd chanting, “Here we, here we, here we fucking go!” during the silence before and then during the shoegazy opening build-up of Glasvegas’ set. Nobody’s gonna get shot tonight, but the threat of soccer hooliganism looms large. The Allan cousins have kind of a greaser look—leather motorcycle jackets, dark hair oiled back, very teen angelic—and it kind of suited their quasi-vintage Spector by way of J&MC sound. They opened with the first track from their debut, “Flowers and Football Tops,” dramatically lit, colored gels and strobes flashing behind them, and plenty loud enough to overwhelm the crowd. They played “It's My Own Cheating Heart That Makes Me Cry” They pulled a false start on one song, and lead singer James Allan apologized, “Our drummer fucked that up…no that was me [or maybe “mean”?]”—it was the only thing he said for the first half of the band’s set (later, between songs, he pointed out into the crowd).

They played “Geraldine,” and it sounded awesome, despite a little bit too much reverb on the vocals at first. The fairly hulking Rab Allan sang the “oooh-oooh-oooooh” harmonies, and it was kind of funny—such fey singing coming out of such a big bruiser of a guy. More chanting between sets from the crowd. James finally talks a little more, although it’s hard to pull much more than “thanks” and “Seattle” out of his thick accent. They play “Go Square Go,” the crowd’s chants finally getting a chorus to sync up with. More banter: “blurgh blagh blurgh…is for you.” Very touching. They played a song I didn't recognize, and a friend observed, “sound like ‘Just Like Honey’.” I agree and up the ante: “It sounds just like ‘Just Like Honey’.” (We’re nerds.) They play “Daddy's Gone” and the crowd comes back in chanting for the finish. They end their short-ish set with a look of feedback playing on after they leave the stage. Hell of a show.