Never ones to shy away from a wild night out, The Thermals had three in town over the past week. The Portland band returned to their three-piece roots this time through, hitting up Bowery Ballroom on Friday and Saturday and Music Hall of Williamsburg on Monday. The band consistently brings out some of the best crowds the city has to offer and encourages them to let loose. The crowd banged around to a rapid fire set of songs from their latest, Now We Can See, as well as what has become quite an impressive back catalog of tunes. Friday night's Bowery crowd started getting so rowdy (there was nearly a fistfight in the mosh pit) that bass player Kathy Foster had to check in that everyone was all right and threatened, "Don't make us go Fugazi on you guys." While Foster played the show barefoot, singer Hutch Harris showed the dapper side of pop-punk, sweating through the sets in a full suit (before treating fans to some shirts-off time in the encore). It's nice to see a band that revels in the intimacy of a small room to stretch out a run like this, rather than settling for one, big, impersonal gig.



