It seems that for most shows, the lineup isn’t always completely favorable. Sometimes we head to a venue to see an opener, only to leave before the night’s main act. Other shows have us agonizing over a blasé second set before finally seeing a favorite enter the spotlight. Once, at a house show, I sat through thirty minutes of monotone synth performed by a guy with a serious nasal drip. He’d spent his set kneeling on the floor with his back to the audience. By his last note he’d dripped enough snot to the ground to secure a six inch puddle in front of him. It was the most memorable part of his performance.

But sometimes we get lucky. Sometimes, though rarer than we’d like, we see shows that hold our attention from start to finish. Tuesday at Great Scott was one of those shows. CreaturoS, Juan Wauters, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard and White Fence! The night was as unique as a blood moon. And though CreaturoS frontman Spenser Gala later told the crowd he’d seen a lot of those eerie moons lately and turned my metaphor sour, I can’t help but consider the grand scheme of nighttimes. Blood moons, and shows like these, are still a rare bird to me.

CreaturoS kicked off the night, and boy, did they kick. Though a short set, the band managed to pack in a serious punch in roughly five songs, starting their jam with a raucous “James Days’ Milkshake” off 2012’s SWAMP THINGG. To make their night even more noteworthy, the show marked the band’s first performance after releasing, Popsicle, an album dropped just hours before these rockers made their way to the venue. New work was present somewhere between a knock of opening fuzz and final depluming “The Mole,” when the band gave listeners “The Master’s Dope,” Popsicle’s title track and serious head bobbing tune.

I can’t say enough about CreaturoS. In just two years the band has built a sound so driving, so empowering and so completely kickass. From Spenser Gala’s face-melting solos, to Joe Marrett’s spooky backing vocals, to Noah Bond’s way with rhythmic guitar, the band has sound on lock. All this while Dom Mariano pounded ferociously at his set, sometimes standing up slightly from his throne to bring down muscle on snare. Equally garage and psych rock, this five-piece was a perfect fit to set the night arockin’. They were also extremely friendly on stage, thanking the headliners and making it known to the crowd how happy they were to be playing. I caught Gala smiling at Marrett at during a later song, as the long haired bassist thumped away, Gala looked on with a grin. It was really a gem of a moment. CreaturoS rules.

Juan Wauters followed the openers with a totally different tune. The Uruguayan transplant sure has a story. After joining his father in New York and living without friends in the city for some time, Wauters discovered his musical calling with the help of his library card. It’s easy to picture Wauters making visits to a local branch, plucking classic albums from the racks of what certainly isn’t Pitchfork’s best new music. Classic folk influences run clear through Wauters’ sound with the slightest touch of 60‘s experimental. In his opening numbers, Wauters opted to solo on piano, drawing out his syllables in an unmistakably Dylan way. This, while the lightbulbs he’d set up on stage flashed in a fitting unrhythmical manner.

While he may have touched on Dylan, later tunes saw Wauters focused on a sunnier side of folk to counter any hint at the icon. The bulk of Wauters’ set saw him center stage, playing acoustic guitar alongside bongos and an additional, more fluid guitar.  A more devoted group of fans whooped in front, a slightly indifferent crowd chatted by the bar and the outside patio. And though Wauters certainly makes for great ambiance to a buzzing crowd, his music, and performance as a whole is far better perceived from up close. So you can see the joy on his face as he sings, “like a movie that is good, I require your attention.”

Check out our pal Gibson’s recent video session with Juan. It’s fast, it’s fun, it’s sure as hell endearing. 

Zany Melbourne garage psych rockers King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard followed to alter the night’s currant from airy to fried, with a clear path still maintained. King Gizzard blurred the opener’s driving rock with Wauters touches of experimentation to land them on the trippyness they’ve so quickly come to be known for. More collective than typical band, King Gizzard’s setup included two percussionists, all sorts of strings and vocal effects to boot. That, a jazz flute and the added bonus of frontman Stu Mackenzie’s luscious curly locks. He could be in a Pantene commercial.

For a band that debuted in 2010, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard are really on their way. They released Oddments in March, only to reconfigure it along a double reissue with last year’s Float Along-Fill Your Lungs. Their upcoming full length, I’m in Your Mind Fuzz hits us this November via Castle Face Records.

LA-based rocker Tim Presley capped the night as White Fence, an act the former Nerve Agents guitarist could hardly compare to his roots. Unlike the frenzied distortion of Presley’s late ’90’s place in hardcore, White Fence opts for a distinctly elastic sound much like that of 60’s psychedelic and classic Britpop. Presley played like a harder, rockier Donovan, which isn’t a bad thing at all.

White Fence’s latest, For The Recently Found Innocent, is a gentle album awash with intricate sound mixing and a growing sense of nostalgia. To psych out his audience (no pun intended), Presley played a much harder show into Tuesday’s later hours with the help Cate Lebon’s guitar and backing vocals, Jared Everett on bass, and Nick Murray’s serious touch of percussion. Though a far cry from the lightness of Presley’s recent work, the band maintained tasteful arrangements through guitar-oriented tunes.

Seeing the band transition from recordings to stage was significant. Moving out of the bedroom and onto the spotlight seemed  a welcome move for Presley, as he and the rest of White Fence faced little difficulty turning pop gems into psychedelic heavy hitters. The band played well into Wednesday’s early hours, shaking the floor with melodies that mirrored a time so few of us could say we’ve experienced. But at the end of the night, after White Fence’s paisley-laced melodies faded into quiet and Great Scott shut it’s doors, we faced the city with a new perspective, one that had us thinking that maybe we had after all.