Kevin Bronson on May 13th, 2015

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There were so many storylines on Monday night at the Echo for the second week of the dual residency shared by Freedom Fry and The Moth & the Flame. Foremost, there was the winning set from the husband-and-wife indie-pop duo Freedom Fry — Bruce Driscoll and Marie Seyrat — expanded to a full band to ratchet up all that is exuberant. They promised a special guest and delivered: Mayer Hawthorne joined them onstage for a cover of Bob Dylan’s “The Man in Me.” Earlier, the Moth & the Flame referenced the dust-up over their new video for “Young & Unafraid.” To review: A U.K. skateboarding magazine hijacked the video Sunday and edited out the band’s credits, posted it with incorrect info on their website and enjoyed a multitude of spins before the band, backed by an army of Reddit users, fought back via social media. To add insult, the Moth & the Flame had to defend themselves from sniping that the whole episode was staged. “Rest assured,” frontman Brandon Robbins, “it was not a publicity stunt.” Anyway, that single still sounds great; it was bookended in their set by “Sorry” and “Wishing Well” and overall sounded almost muscular enough to turn the upside-down neon ampersand onstage upright. And the night started with some pyrotechnics from indie-metal kids Irontom, who, from the spazz-tastic antics of guitarist Zach Irons and singer Harry Hayes, look all ready for their forthcoming tour supporting AWOLNATION.

Photos by Michelle Shiers