“It’s amazing to be playing a venue like this, and we have only one album out!” exclaimed Local Natives’ Taylor Rice halfway through their performance at Boston’s Paradise Rock Club. Accompanied by openers The Union Line and The Ruby Suns, the sold-out Paradise was presented with a beautiful rendition of an out-of-order performance of Local Natives’ Gorilla Manor.

Openers Union Line seemed promising and also fitting for a Local Natives opener. Armed with auxiliary bass drums, shakers, and mustaches, the first song resonated as the audience anticipated the headliner. But the Union Line lost their hold when their songs began to sound too similar. They have potential, however, and it’s worth keeping an eye on them.

New Zealand’s The Ruby Suns did not fail to impress. Witnessing bands like Local Natives and other modern indie-rock outfits makes you jaded to those who are multi-instrumentalists and multi-taskers, but such was not the case for The Ruby Suns. The lead vocalist/guitarist and the bassist were both armed with extra percussion and a table of electronic “stuff” in front of them (from what I could tell, sampling pads, sequencers, etc). While singing some pretty wonderful harmonies and manning their strings, they would also be tapping away at their electronics and layering some crazy sounds combining chanting, native New Zealand language, and electronic dance beats. Personally, I admired the drummer’s ability to play a normal set while intermittently banging on a electronic pad to make a really interesting pastiche of sound. Perhaps, most importantly, the crowd did not seem disinterested and detached. The Ruby Suns put them to dancing and got them pumped for Local Natives. Definitely check them out if you’d like to hear an easily accessible mix of Animal Collective’s Merriweather Post Pavilion and Yeasayer’s Odd Blood, to play the “they’re the child of ___ and ____” game.

Perhaps a little dramatic but also a little amazing, Local Natives’ intro-tape was the entirety of “Modern Love” by David Bowie. It was the only thing that the crowd did not sing for Local Natives’ set, for as soon as the band started, the crowd erupted in an hour-long singalong. Some overly ambitious music-heads aimed to sing the harmonies, but swooning girls and I stuck with the catchy main vocal melodies. Vocal duties bounced between Taylor Rice and Kelcey Ayers, while guitar, drums, and vocals shuffled between everyone else.

Rice dominated the stage with his vocal talent and mustache as the band plowed through the thumping “Camera Talk.” On “Cards and Quarters”, Ayers showily played keys with his other arm twisting around himself to play his floor tom. I’ve complained about audience’s ability to be easily wowed by extra percussion, but I have to lay down my arms this time. The balance between Ayers’ drum playing and Matt Frazier’s kit work was visceral and pounding. Set closer “Who Knows, Who Cares” captured the thunderous crescendo of the album wonderfully live. The instrument wasn’t a side prop, as cymbal rushes and mallets added nice white noise and substance to the background of songs.

Touches of mandolin by Ryan Hahn on “Airplanes” and awesome drum and bass work on Talking Heads cover “Warning Sign” highlighted Andy Hamm and Matt Frazier. The show did err on the side of keeping true to the album, but it also avoided seeming like just a louder version of the record. The stage presence and occasional opening additions to their songs put Local Natives on the track to having a more fleshed-out live act. As it stands, though, the crowd and I were fine hearing a shuffled version of Gorilla Manor.

Local Natives knew what they were doing when they wrote show closer “Sun Hands”. A standout album song, “Sun Hands” was also an exceptional live song. Inciting audience clapping, chanting, and making me lose my hearing, the song built up to a point that would make anyone content with their night and ready to go home. A dramatic pause before the final instrumental break left the crowd waiting for the moment when, as a fellow crowd-goer said, “shit goes down.” Following Rice’s scream of “ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR” and five guitar notes, the song’s breakdown blew the roof off the Paradise.

Local Natives’ first album is a resounding success, and there is a reason they are moving up the ladder of larger venues. They deserve it, and anyone not too indifferent to sing along at a live show deserves to see them in action.