It was a few days before Thanksgiving and Iron Chic fans, especially those here in Boston, had almost as much to be thankful for as that one turkey that gets pardoned by the president every year.

For starters, the band had just released The Constant One, the  follow-up to 2010’s highly regarded Not Like This. While it is a bit more introspective than the rousing, hook-laden slice of punk perfection that is their debut album, the new record does a great job of sticking to the formula that made the band an underground favorite.

If the new material wasn’t great enough, the band had announced a weekend of record release shows, including one at Great Scott in Allston. Support was set to come from People Watchin’, Ovlov, and Awful Man.

A show on a Sunday  before a short workweek. An awesome line-up. And a sold out crowd. Sounds like the recipe for a big night, doesn’t it?

Unfortunately, this was one of those events that didn’t quite live up to expectations.

First off – it was freezing cold outside. Yes, the show was obviously indoors, but the weather seemed to put a bit of a damper on the enthusiasm level.

Secondly – there were a lot of openers. In addition to the bands listed above, Witches With Dicks also showed up to play a surprise reunion set directly before Iron Chic. The band released their only full-length in 2007, and while a few diehards at the front were pretty excited, the crowd as a whole didn’t seem all that familiar with them.

The result of this  five-band bill was short sets for everyone. None of the openers had much time to hit their strides or grab the audience’s attention before it was time to move on to the next act.

Iron Chic took the stage and opened with “Cutsey Monster Man” around 11:30. As if an alarm had gone off, the crowd instantly awoke from their winter slumber. Everyone at the front threw a fist in the air and started to shout along – and continued to do so throughout the entire set.

The band, however, didn’t seem to be feeding off of this energy. Frontman Jason Lubrano sounded good but seemed a bit under the weather, offering almost no between song banter other than “are you having a good time… or whatever?”

Lubrano announced the band had two more songs left after only thirty minutes, and the band went on to close with “Time Keep On Slipping Into The (Cosmic) Future”.  They also performed a one song “encore” after standing around on stage and talking amongst themselves for a minute. It seemed kind of half-hearted to me, which is not a phrase you would normally use to describe anything related to Iron Chic.

All in all, this wasn’t a bad show. Those at the front looked like they were having a blast and would probably tell you it was everything they had hoped for, but from a little further back, it seemed like something was missing. I’ll chalk it up to a bit of an off night, and would expect the band to be back at full strength for their next area appearance.