Andrew Veeder on May 20th, 2015

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“It’s an absolute dream to play here,” said Wolf Alice bass player Theo Ellis halfway through their set at the storied Roxy Theatre on Monday night, the band’s third visit to L.A. this year after performances at Bardot in January and the Bootleg in March.

If the momentum behind this band is any indication, they won’t be playing venues this small for much longer. The young but poised London crew cruised through a dozen songs in 50 minutes, culling selections from their early EPs as well as their forthcoming debut album, “My Love Is Cool.” Ellis and drummer Joel Amey anchored the dynamite rhythm section, elevated by lead guitarist Joff Oddie and singer/guitarist Ellie Rowsell, who is charismatic and captivating, alternating between her mic and modulated mic, all the while drawing you in.

They kicked the show off with the one-two punch of “Fluffy” and “She,” ripping it up from the get-go, before delving into new material, including the start-stop of “Your Love’s Whore” and “The Wonderwhy.” “Blush” proved to be the highlight, starting with Roswell’s gentle reverb riff and cooed lyrics, “Curse the things that made me sad for so long / Yeah it hurts to think that they can still go on / I’m happy now / Are you happy now?” before exploding with the full four-piece sound, and winding down as it began, showing the band can excel in both the quiet moments and all-out rock assault ones. The reworked version of “Bros” found her beaming with a smile as the crowd started clapping along, before bangarang closer and new single “Giant Peach” stirred some bros to mosh-dance up front.

They returned to the stage for an encore of “Moaning Lisa Smile,” with Ellis and Oddie tornado-ing around stage with their guitars, and Rowsell singing down to the crowd before climbing into it to sing and shred with an ear-to-ear grin as the audience bounced around her.

Los Angeles band Gateway Drugs opened the show, and suffered the opening band syndrome of not being mixed as well as the headliner, with some vocals clear but others muddled, depending on which rotating singer was at the helm. The band composed of Blues Williams and siblings Gabe, Liv, and Noa Niles, the children of the Knack’s Prescott Niles, whipped up their “drug pop” sound like garage-rock drenched in distortion, playing track from their new album “Magick Spells,” as well as B-side “Los Angeles Will Have It’s Revenge on Francis Bean,” often employing feedback interludes between songs.