Kelsey Heng on February 16th, 2015

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A smitten, Valentine’s Day-eve crowd adorned with merch beanies, plaid shirts and youthful beards greeted Dr. Dog on Friday night at the Wiltern, with the indie-rockers from the City of Brotherly Love giving their cult followers a show worthy of a candlelit dinner out, and then some.

Touring in support of the recent live album “Live at a Flamingo Hotel,” the Philadelphians brought an exotic energy with near-perfect technical prowess. For a band with 14 years of slow growth and seven studio albums behind them, theirs is a live show that has managed to stay rambunctious and fresh.

Dr. Dog’s six members walked onto stage under rainbow lights and old-school Vegas flamingo marquee that quickly brightened up the venue. Opening the night with “Distant Light” and “Phenomenon,” from 2013’s “B Room,” proved a crowd-pleasing, and they went back to 2008’s “Fate” for “Hang On” and “Army of Ancients,” with singers Toby Leaman and Scott McCicken leading the way. Their “B Room” songs “The Truth,” “Broken Heart” and “Nellie” shone on the encore.

The unique quality of the band is the consistently cheerful vibe while screaming passionately about disillusionment, solitude and loneliness. It was perhaps fitting as a warm-up for a Valentine’s Day.

L.A. rocker Hanni El Khatib, backed by a band he called “The Slime,” opened the night with a rough but soulfully loud rock set. Performances of the band’s hit songs “Moonlight,” “You Rascal You” and “Melt Me” flashed glimpses of the band’s garage-rock muscle, but overall it came across repetitive and muddy.

Photos by Kelsey Heng