Out of the misty Seacoast night swagger the uber cool Dandy Warhols, a gang of elegantly wasted bohemian misfits that everyone wants to join. The sold-out audience of 1,000 or so concert-goers inside the cramped tent at the Redhook Brewery is an unsual mix of indie kids with asymmetric haircuts, denim-clad rockers and ordinary Portsmouth folk out to have a good time. Only feral rock ’n’ roll can unite the fash pack with the mosh pit, and the Dandy Warhols deliver. Crucially, they both sound and look amazing.
Courtney Taylor-Taylor, sporting a flat cap and tight fitting T-shirt, almost whispers into the microphone, yet his lyrics billow out into the audience like opium smoke. Drummer Brent De Boer is only visible as giant ball of hair behind his kit, but his contribution is felt with the gyrating hipsters grooving at the front of the stage. Zia McCabe nonchalantly plays her keys, creating a swirling, spacey cacophany that ultimatley gives the band their distinctive sound. Peter Holstrum resembles an early 1980s New Romantic poser, but his neo-psycadelic riffs grind into catchy, danceable rhythms. And this is certainly the case as they launch into their new single “Smoke It,” a nihilitistic, cosmic foot stomper swathed in their trademark psychadelic rhythms and customary “woo-hoo” chorus. Everybody forgets about the enormous line for beer and tunes in to the angel sighs and walls of sound that are the Dandy’s party. If only every Friday night were like this, where the hum drum of the working week is transformed into the insense sticky aura of a basement bong fest; for tonight only, this is our Exploding Plastic Inevitable. The suburbs of Portsmouth have become Greenwich Village.

Courtney Taylor-Taylor, who arrogantly declared he could sneeze out hits in last year’s revealing rock documentary “Dig!,” seems to do exactly that, as highlights like “Down Like Disco” from the new album “Odditorium or Warlords of Mars” are fused with older classics “Minnesota” and “Not If You Were the Last Junkie on Earth.” A new track, “All the Money or the Simple Life Honey” bounces along, a song seemingly written for awkward, goofy dancing. Which is of course how most of the crowd dance anyway. Taylor brings the mood down, crooning over “I Love You,” a trance-enducing mantra in which the title is repeated over and over with the the heavy distortion of guitar. Its raw and garagy, and you can hear the crackle of static and feedback on every downstroke of the guitar. Then “Boheminan Like You” kicks in—a monastery of harmonies, thundering drums and a blinding riff. Camp, kitsch, yet even the denim-clad rockers are punching the air by this point.

It’s all a little too much. The Dandy Warhols seem like one of the most fun bands to be in. Never labeled as part of any “scene,” they have casually blasted out half a dozen records over the last decade, not groundbreaking nor risk taking, but simply fun. To be “pop” is often looked at with some disdain; however, after this gig one is left wishing that all pop could be as driven, cool and exciting as the Dandy Warhols consistently are. Sure, they can be accused of never really pushing the boundaries on record, but live they exude a confidence and coolness that as intoxicating as the beer being sold at the back of the tent.

A pounding rendition of “Boys Better” closes the show on an exhiliratingly electric note. The Dandy Warhols have done their part, treated us to a trippy delight, and they’re off to New York, vanishing into the late summer mists from which they emerged.

more on the Redhook concert circuit
There’s more of the unpredictable and quirky coming up to note on your calendars.
• On Friday, Oct. 7, Lake Trout bring their own provocative hybrid of jam band rock ’n’ roll and sparse electronica. Those who know the band know to expect the unexpected with their uncanny ability to flip from more traditional jazzy rock to Eno/Radiohead-esque dabblings in weird loops and drum n’ bass. As a live act they promise to create vast rock landscapes that a tent on the outskirts of Portsmouth may struggle to contain.
• The following night, Oct. 8, DJ Logic performs a similarly unpredictable set. Logic has helped raise the respect and profile of the superstar DJ  unlike anybody else, over a long career pioneering the fusion of jazz and hip-hop. Experimental, improvisational, yet with enough trippy funk to get most every body moving.
—Steve Brennan