Irish quintet The Thrills [ tickets ] took the stage at about 11:15 p.m. in Chicago on Friday (4/16), surely knowing that "One Horse Town," from its late 2003 debut album "So Much for the City," had been in heavy rotation on local alternative radio station WXRT's extremely narrow daytime playlist.

Chicagoland listeners can figure on hearing the song half-a-dozen times before lunch. So perhaps the group--wanting to make the most of its foothold--thought it necessary to wow the fans of their regional hit, or wanted to amp up on the heels of an opening set by a much louder rock band. Whatever the reason, the band's frontman, Conor Deasy, gave a bit extra, and the gig was not always the better for it.

On the band's debut (which is multi-platinum in Ireland), singer/songwriter Deasy effectively expresses a kind of premature nostalgia for a youth slipping away that twenty-somethings know best. He also injects a sunny outlook into country-tinged pop tunes, even when they're about disintegrating friendships.

But live, in a rumpled, long-sleeve shirt after discarding a blazer, Deasy found it necessary to move for the enthusiastic audience at every possibly moment, even when the music and mood clearly didn't require it. Deasy seemed to conjure a collegiate version of Iggy Pop with his spastic pointing and occasional toe-stands on his white Converse sneakers.

The Thrills' Daniel Ryan and Padraic McMahon switched between bass and guitar duties throughout the set and kept the group sounding meatier (particularly on tunes like "Your Love is Like Las Vegas") than on its terrifically smooth, Tony Hoffer-produced album. There were moments when the guitars even overwhelmed Deasy's vocals, a phenomenon that never occurs on the record. Ben Carrigan (drums) and Kevin Horan (keys) filled out the group's buoyant tunes, though the lap steel and banjo that make the album's sound so distinctive didn't make it onto the tour bus.

But Deasy seemed to fight for an identity, somewhat awkwardly now and then, by sliding out of his wistful, higher register and into some short, shouted bursts. Though he never lost a beat, his sunny tunes didn't always accept the forced angst. Deasy, who even hopped atop a taped-down milk-crate to pump up the crowd, never looked as effortless in his showmanship as in his singing.

Deasy's antics came across better during some of The Thrills' more epic tunes--such as the new, potential hit in which Deasy repeats the line "it goes on and on and on, my darling" with perfect harmonies.

"We spent the last 6 or 8 weeks in L.A .working our new record," Deasy announced. And new tunes rounded out the band's set as its debut numbers.

In an overexcited state, Deasy thanked the crowd repeatedly before the band went into "Santa Cruz," the band's debut single from 2002, to end the set on a high note. Returning to the stage for an encore, the band pulled out "another new one we are working on," Deasy said, and laid into "Don't Steal Our Sun" with an unusual amount of edge.

Opener Ambulance Ltd [ tickets ].'s guitar-drenched tunes built tension and droned at a much higher volume, recalling the Velvet Underground (intentionally, it seems, as the group played its own version of psychedelic "Loaded" outtake "Ocean"), and the dark Brit-rock of San Francisco's Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. Locals The Changes were also on the bill.