Kevin Bronson on November 21st, 2014

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Five albums into their career, Cold War Kids bear little resemblance to the spindly quartet that lurched out of Orange County 10 years ago on a riff and a prayer. Only Nathan Willett, with his dinnerware-rattling caterwaul, and peripatetic bassist Matt Maust remain from the original lineup.

• ||| Photos by Michelle Shiers

And everything has gotten bigger: those riffs, thanks to ex-Modest Mouse/Murder City Devils guitarist Dann Gallucci; the rhythms, courtesy of ex-Modest Mouse/Shins drummer Joe Plummer; and the keyboards via Matthew Schwartz of L.A.’s Chasing Kings. Oh, and despite their albums having been panned more often than seared ahi, Cold War Kids’ crowds have grown too. If any of the 1,100 fans who packed the Regent Theater on Thursday night were put off by mixed reviews of the quintet’s latest, “Hold My Home,” it didn’t show.

Willett’s muscular, passionate presence, along with the cramped quarters, gave the Kids’ hometown show a tent-revival fervor as the band raced through 21 songs in just under 90 minutes. Maust stalked around the stage as is his habit, playing chicken with his mates, while the crowd – heavy on old-schoolers, from the sound of things – bobbed their heads, clapped and joined in on the band’s choruses.

There was plenty to sing along to: Five of the songs from Cold War Kids’ 2006 debut “Robbers & Cowards” turned up – as many as they played from their middle three albums combined. And naturally they went all-in for “Hold My Home,” which came out last month and despite a couple of too-obvious flirtations with formula, ranks as their best work since that 2006 debut.

On the new album, producers Lars Stalfors and Gallucci seem to have found a happy place between contemporary sheen and the band’s primitive directness, especially on songs such as “First,” “Drive Desperate” and “Hotel Anywhere.” Eight songs from “Hold My Home” were sprinkled throughout a set Thursday that began with singles “All This Could Be Yours” and 2013’s “Miracle Mile.”

Long-timers had to be impressed, though, with how the oldies – their breakout, “Hang Me Up to Dry,” along with “Hair Down,” “We Used to Vacation,” “Hospital Beds” and show-closer “Saint John” – sounded in the bigger, badder incarnation of Cold War Kids. In the small rooms where the band paid its dues, those songs were always good for an 11 p.m. sweat, and in the cavernous Regent those blues were super-sized.

Avid Dancer opened with a set of winning guitar-pop that included the two singles from their debut EP, “I Want to See You Dance” and “Stop Playing With My Heart,” along with others such as “Not Far to Go” and “Medication.” A full-length album is due to arrive around April.