Divine Fits fits our Monday night way of life

As part of an on-going concert series sponsored by Filter magazine, Divine Fits rolled into San Diego for the first time with a free set for anyone willing to brave a late Monday night.

Though the band’s ’80s synth-pop tendencies are apparent on their self-titled debut, performing live the band let their rocking side guide the proceedings. The results were fantastic as songs like "What Gets You Alone" and "Would That Not Be Nice" really sprung to life with a little injection of guitar overdrive fueling them. "The Salton Sea" was another highlight, with its eerie, hypnotic appeal stretched to even greater success in the live setting. "Like Ice Cream" followed suit, delivering a groove that the crowd demanded to sway their hips to.

Since the new band is short on songs for this tour, this set was pretty much delivered as a tour de force. The entire debut album plus a couple covers (most notably "You Got Lucky" by Tom Petty) in about an hour. The songs were rocking, they stomped tricky endings, the musical chairs of instrument swapping went smoothly...it’s obvious these guys are pros.

And speaking of musical chairs, before the band went on I happened to catch Divine Fits frontman Britt Daniel in the bathroom of the lobby. He informed me that next up for him was a new Spoon album, followed by another Divine Fits album at some point after that. So, fans of both facets of Daniel's career can look forward to plenty more from him in the future. He did seem somewhat perplexed by the band's start time, though. "Isn't 11:15 a little late for San Diego on a Monday night?" he asked me. I told him to be thankful they weren't playing the Casbah, because they probably wouldn’t go on until midnight there. America's Finest City can't get enough of dreary-eyed, ear-ringing Tuesday mornings.

• Concert: Divine Fits
• Date: October 9
• Venue: Hard Rock Hotel
• Seats: Floor