Three bands, one thrilling dance party. Mobley, Vacationer, and Body Language, were on the last legs of their SXSW tours, lighting up Baton Rouge on Friday March 9th before heading into Austin, Texas.

Mobley definitely brought the most energy to the Moon with a vortex of drumming, synth, black lights, glow-in-the-dark face paint, and intense dancing. The band incorporates indie, pop, and rock elements into their music with some catchy bass lines with dark harmonizing vocals.

Lead singer Anthony Watkins II mingled with the crowd on their song “Torch” pounding on a floor tom, swapping instruments with bassist Tim Shelburne, and all while getting down with the people. During their song “The Editor” Watkins rocked on guitar with blues organ and included some twisted video visuals . Watkins ended their epic performance by shouting into a megaphone on their song  “Ego Is”from their first album Cold War Cold.

Somewhere in the middle of their set, Watkins proclaimed that Baton Rouge was Mobley’s favorite spot to perform, so I know we’ll be seeing more of this band in the near future.

Vacationer is The Starting Line’s lead singer Kenny Vasoli’s side project. Vacationer sounds similar to The Pains of Being Pure at Heart and Vampire Weekend but with a hypnotic clash of trip-hop elements and great vocals.

The group played material from their album Gone, which was released in early 2012. Their song “Good As New” brought great synth and vibraphone voices, creating a perfect mix of energy for the crowd. “Trip” had some psychedelic melodies with some awesome delay on Vasoli’s vocals. The groove for every song was right on point and felt like they each could have lasted a little while longer.

And finally, Body Language concluded the night with a relatively short set-list but none the less a great performance. From Brooklyn, New York, Body Language is comprised of vocalist Angelica Bess with mad glockenspiel skills, Matt Young and Grant Wheeler on keys, and Ian Chang on drums. Usually Body Language is a four piece keyboard/ indie disco party crew but for this special evening they had Vasoli make an appearance on bass for all of their songs. Body Language kicked off their set with tunes from their newly released Grammar EP. “Lose My Head” made things funky with some 70s bass licks. “Falling Out” and “The First” got everyone pumped with their four-part harmonies. Some of the songs in their set seemed a little unfamiliar so I’m assuming this stuff will be on their upcoming album. They moved onto their slow jams right after that, with “I’m A Mess”, bringing the groove down to 40 BPM and turning up the bass level. The highlight of their performance was definitely their song “You Can”, with Chang busting out with the slapstick and bass kick, Bess rocking on glockenspiel harmonizing with Matt Young, and Wheeler wobbling with the synth. Body Language ended the night with Young jamming on cowbell, Bess rocking the mic and Chang with a drum solo all tangled up in a four bar hip-hop groove.

Overall, it was a great night for music at the Spanish Moon.