Photo by: Big Hassle Publicity

The air of the Gothic Theater was thick with marijuana haze and excitement for Dr. Dog’s performance last Tuesday.

The many nuances of the Philadelphia-based band’s music were only amplified in the astonishing live performance, defying all expectations of what to predict next.  Whether taken aback by a moment of pure pop, happy-go-lucky bounce or the heavy rock and roll ringings of their wild guitars, Dr. Dog proved their alpha dog dominance, peeing all over the face of other indie rock performers.

Dr. Dog was welcomed with  raucous applause and immediately began playing with a powerful, guitar-heavy display of “Stranger,” the first track off  Shame, Shame, which was released earlier this month. The band barely came up for air, playing straight through for almost two hours.

Dr. Dog’s show was purely focused on the music and the appreciative audience couldn’t get enough of the sound.

Matching its musicianship, Dr. Dog also has an eclectic style. To describe its music would be a pastiche of so many other indie giants – a combination of the soul of Bon Iver, the sweet harmonizing of Fleet Foxes, the bounce of Vampire Weekend and the swagger of Kings of Leon.

Songs like “Where’d All the Time Go” had the audience swaying with imaginings of slow-dancing with some fedora-wearing stranger, drinking Bourbon in some bluesy nightclub.

Beautiful songs like “Shame Shame” fell victim to other, more noise-based moments, as some lost their ethereal whimsy in the process of rock-ification.