Gogol Bordello

I just got back from the Theater of the Living Arts in Philadelphia where I saw the band Gogol Bordello. I'd read about the band in the New York Times, but hadn't gotten a chance to hear them; Some New Orleans refugee friends of mine took me to the show. The music sounded much like the Pogues, in that it drew strongly from traditional music of a specific area, in this case the Ukraine. The band had many members which filled the stage, including two older men who played violin and accordion, and two Asian girls who did synchronized dances, acted as majorettes, and threw props into the crowd. From the very first moments of their set, it was obvious that the band was as enthusiastic about their music as they wanted the audience to be, and this gung-ho attitude cleanly dispensed with the pretension that seems to weigh down other bands.
Link to the band's MySpace page.