Hipster posing, shoegazing indifference, emo angst, and punk anger have taken the joy out of being a rock star. A lot of bands make it seem like they would rather be somewhere else than performing for people who actually paid to see them (maybe they’re just thinking about all the people who didn’t pay to see them?). Voxtrot is one band that clearly enjoys playing their music. SFist was told to check out Voxtrot because their live show was “awesome”. Which it was. Saturday night at Bottom of the Hill there were no gimmicks, no attitude, just a bunch of guys having a good time playing their tunes.

But first, the opening act. Are all Canadians nuts? We’ve sort of wondered this for a while (and as a disclosure some of our favorite people are Canadian, and totally off-kilter). Despite a promising open song, Kiss Me Deadly didn’t really do much to shatter this stereotype. The lead singer’s Lycra suit with sailor collar was just weird, and throwing Karen O type vocal gasping on top of Arcade Fire beats didn’t really make us think that all things Canadian are hot. Even if they are from Montreal.

Our Texas stereotypes were pretty battered by Voxtrot. True, they’re from Austin, where all things music and cool are converging this week, but they don’t look or sound like they’re from anywhere near there. We have rarely seen a band enjoy performing more. Voxtrot’s brand of pop (good, danceable, not affected) attracted a mix crowd—lots of underage college kids, and a representation of the Marina set—a mix we’ve never seen before. But it worked. The crowed loved Voxtrot and Voxtrot loved the crowd. Plus the band won SFist’s enduring love for saying “this is our last song” and MEANING it: no presumed encore. True, it might be because Voxtrot only has two EP’s, but they did manage to fit in a Talking Heads cover to their set. As if those aren’t reasons enough to love Voxtrot, there are songs like this (SFist has it on steady rotation) a little love from Gothamist, and the fact that the lead singer blogs (and who doesn’t love a blogger?).