Kevin Bronson on September 16th, 2013

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Five minutes before Local Natives took the stage Friday night at the Greek Theatre, some bro in the pit started chanting “Cavil at Rest!” Whether he merely wanted to impress his date with his deep knowledge of the headliners’ Orange County days or he just longed for the 2007 version of “Sun Hands,” it was clear: That was then and this is now.

The Silver Lake-based quintet gave an exuberant 90-minute show Friday night that seemed to amaze even themselves – and this from a band that’s toured the world since the January release of its sophomore album “Hummingbird” and more than two years ago marked Disney Hall off the L.A. Landmarks to Play list. “Hometown show” was the operative phrase here, and Kelcey Ayers, Taylor Rice, Ryan Hahn, Matt Frazier and touring bassist Nik Ewing were given a heroes’ welcome.

“We played a couple shows when the album first came out,” Ayers said, “but to us this feels like the real show.”

“I have to tell you I’ve been watching the moon set over you guys all night and it’s amazing,” Rice said later.

Typically, Local Natives brought that same sense of wonder to their set, which was front-loaded with their more urgent material – “Breakers” off the new album and “World News,” “Wide Eyes” and the Talking Heads remake “Warning Signs” off their debut “Gorilla Manor.”

Even the complex and more contemplative songs off “Hummingbird” seemed to take on a stadium feel, though, in front of 5,000-plus in the almost-sold-out canyon. Though seldom all at once, Hahn’s guitars, the quintet’s doubled percussion and its two-, three- and four-part harmonies felt downright muscular, abetted as they were by a dramatic light show. If “Hummingbird” is at its core a bedroom pop album, Local Natives rattled the neighbors with new songs such as the beat-heavy “Wooly Mammoth” and the twinkling “Ceilings.”

The emotional tenor of the show took on more depth when, to start the encore, Ayers noted the presence of his father, brothers, sister and aunt in the crowd before Local Natives played “Colombia,” a song dedicated to Ayers’ mother, who died of cancer during the making of the second album.

Local Natives finished with “Sun Hands,” much as they have since that Silverlake Lounge residency that put them on the map in February 2009. The crowd, which had been standing all of the show, found new energy and shouted along. It was the same kind of communal moment the band inspired back in the day, only on a grander scale. If, like the guy in the pit, you were lucky enough to have witnessed both, it was something special indeed.

Photos by Bronson