Kevin Bronson on February 22nd, 2020

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“We got way out of the box tonight,” singer Nathan Willett told the crowd at the Novo on Friday night as Cold War Kids closed the book on an almost-two-hour roller-coaster ride through their 14-year catalog. “Thank you.”

It darned near sounded like an apology, when none was necessary: The Los Angeles quintet, who have become a lean, mean, indie-blues machine as they approach the release of their eighth album, let down their guard at Friday’s hometown show, which capped a six-week tour with rising Brooklyn electro-rockers Overcoats (impressive in their 40-minute opening set previewing music from their album “The Fight,” out March 6).

In a lot of ways, Friday’s was like years of the Kids’ L.A. shows — massive sing-alongs, frayed T-shirts bearing the artwork of bassist Matt Maust, fans swapping stories about the first time they saw Cold War Kids. (“Saw them play a garage in Whittier.” “They played my college in 2007!” “Silverlake Lounge, 2005.” “I was at every night of their Spaceland residency.”)

Maybe because it was the tour-ender, or maybe because they were playing to familiar L.A. faces, Friday’s 22-song excursion had the ragged glory of their early outings. Cold War Kids have evolved from authors of lacerating blues sketches to artisans of radio-ready anthems, but their choice on Friday to embed a five-song “strings and keys” set in the middle of the show proved a welcome deviation from their usually fever-pitched outings.

Early this year, the band released a “Strings & Keys” EP featuring some unplugged versions of songs from their 2019 album “New Age Norms 1.” So on Friday, with two string players and two backup vocalists, they dialed back to perform three songs from that EP (“Beyond the Pale,” “Waiting for Your Love,” “Dirt in My Eyes”), along with another from that latest album (“Calm Your Nerves”) and 2017’s “So Tied Up,” originally a collaboration with Bishop Briggs.

Most of the rest of the show was New vs. Old, all tied together by the irrepressible wail of Willett. He and Maust, the onetime roommates who are the band’s lone remaining founding members, have over the years annexed players from other indie-rock bands to form the current lineup: drummer Joe Plummer (The Shins/Modest Mouse), keyboardist Matthew Schwartz (Chasing Kings) and guitarist David Quon (We Barbarians). They made for a muscular unit when the songs called for it — 2019’s “Complainer,” the new song “Who’s Gonna Love Me Now” and their biggest single, 2014’s “First,” dutifully played to end the main set.

The bones of old favorites “Hang Me Up to Dry,” “We Used to Vacation” and “Hospital Beds” remained pretty much intact … and, holy smokes, did those songs really come out in 2006? (Yes.)

Their strings-and-keys interlude notwithstanding, the encore was when the fabric of the show unraveled — in the best possible way. Joined by the string players, backup vocalists and Overcoats (principal duo Hana Elion and JJ Mitchell, along with touring members Madi Vogt and Sara L’Abriola), Cold War Kids went all-hands-on-stage crazy.

They broke another nugget from 2006, “Saint John,” into a million little pieces, giving it a gritty, extemporaneous reading. And they closed the night with 2008’s “Something Is Not Right With Me,” from their sophomore album “Loyalty to Loyalty.” With a sea of fans with their hands in the air clapping, the song was transformed from a bluesy stomp into a full-on dance number.

Yes, maybe it was out of the box. All of it made for a better package.

Setlist: Love Is Mystical, Miracle Mile, Complainer, Audience of One, Who’s Gonna Love Me Now, Lost That Easy, Louder Than Ever, Hang Me Up to Dry, Beyond the Pale, So Tied Up, Waiting for Your Love, Calm Your Nerves, Dirt in My Eyes, Mexican Dogs, Can We Hang On?, Restless, We Used to Vacation, Hospital Beds, First. Encore: All This Could Be Yours, Saint John, Something Is Not Right With Me.

Photos by Michelle Shiers Photography