Seraphina Lotkhamnga on September 21st, 2014

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The glamorous Karen O wound up her three-night stint at Hollywood Forever Cemetery’s Masonic Lodge on Friday with poise, style and a few special guests. Although the slew of shows started out with a seated audience to maximize an intimate effect, a packed room during a heat wave called for the Lodge to do away with chairs and open the space up for standing room only for Thursday and Friday. The slight change didn’t make a dent in Karen O and company’s performance though; if anything, it allowed fans to be up closer to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs leading lady, whose delicate rendering of “Crush Songs” (out now via Cult Records) enraptured the room.

• ||| Photos by David Benjamin

With the lights down low, the first thing one saw while walking into the room was a neon heart that said “Crush Palace” in the middle. It was undoubtedly was the centerpiece of Karen O’s stripped-down performance, but it also served more than aesthetic purpose. The words “Crush” glowed with an intense red before the show (when eerie sounds akin to a furnace room in a haunted Tower of Terror ride seemed to soundtrack the heart’s colors fading on and off) as well as when the band finally took the stage.

Cheers erupted as the singer took the stage. Her sparkling and sheer outfit, fit for a disco queen who may have also happened to be into Fleetwood Mac, was another breathtaking example of her renowned fashion sense. However, her band members (who simply wore a muted black) also got some attention simply because they, too, had fans themselves. Flanking Karen O on each side were Los Angeles’ very own Moses Sumney and on the other, Holly Miranda (who was formerly bi-coastal but now spends most of her time in the City of Angels).

Sumney and Miranda played a long musical interlude before Karen O counted off and went into “NYC Baby,” “Ooo” and “Indian Summer.” Harmonies and gentle guitar strumming from her band provided a wonderful foundation for O’s fragile cracks and airy notes. By the fourth tune, Sumney provided his signature vocal percussion and looping for “Visits” and the talented Imaad Wasif also jumped on stage to provide some more depth on guitar.

However, not all songs were sweet. Although “Crush Songs” doesn’t have a single song over 3 minutes (most clock in around the 2 minute mark), there are some tunes such as “So Far” and “Beast” that insinuate a slightly darker undertone and as O and company moved through these songs, the neon heart flickered until it completely went out and made way for those creepy furnace room noises again.

Karen O sang her soft notes and yelped her yelps with a new vulnerability for the most part. There wasn’t much stage banter with the exception of a giggle when someone would inevitably shout “I love you, Karen!” She did however introduce Wassif, Moses after he performed “San Fran,” a song from his “Mid-City Island” EP, and exclaimed “The band’s back together!” when fellow Yeah Yeah Yeahs bandmate Nick Zinner (who was in town for the Bedrocktoberfest he curated on Saturday) joined them for a song. Miranda, who performed a lovely cover of Radiohead’s “High & Dry,” was introduced just before the encore, which included “Singalong” and “Moon Song.”

“Friday night!” wailed O, after they finished their encore. “Let’s have a load off,” she also stated. Keeping her word, fans exited to the main lobby where a full-fledged big band was playing music, the pop-up bar was still open, and of course, where you could still buy “Crush Songs” vinyl and pillow cases.