Walking into the Troubadour Friday night, my heart fluttered with excitement. I was only feet away from a stage that was soon to hold my favorite performers, a little band called fun. (period intended). Fun. is made up of Nate Ruess from The Format, Jack Antonoff from Steel Train and Andrew Dost from Anathallo and a few other members that join for live performances during each tour. They currently have only one CD, “Aim and Ignite,” that is worth purchasing or at least listening to on their MySpace page. (http://www.myspace.com/fun)

The show began with The Jakes, a five-piece band from Los Angeles. The music was catchy but fairly predictable, and only three of the five performers were entertaining. At one point the singer began to talk to the crowd but interrupted himself by creepily saying, “Sorry, the song is calling my body.”

Following them was a band that seemed like a Jack Black cover band called the Dusty Rhodes River Band. The lead singer looked exactly like Nacho Libre and didn’t sing any better. He did, however, bust out an accordion, which helped to give the band’s 80s British pub music feel like something slightly enjoyable. But, between the keyboard, violin, two guitars, bass, drums and the guitarist’s screaming girlfriend behind me, the music was much more like noise rather than anything pleasurable in my ears.

Next up was the band that most of the crowd had been waiting for all night, fun. After set up, the band had the crowd wait about 15 minutes, which seemed slightly diva-like, but it was quickly forgotten as lead singer Ruess walked on the stage and began to croon “At Least I’m Not As Sad (As I Used To Be).” The song started out slow and comfortable, but built with a chorus that led to all seven members on the stage singing their hearts out along with a horn section of a trumpet and a trombone.

About seven people were on stage for the majority of the show including Emily Moore of The Seahorses, who played guitar and sang backup vocals. “Benson Hedges” was next in the set list and left nothing wanting as Ruess’ vocal power exuded throughout the whole song. The band went on to play “I Wanna Be The One” and “Light a Roman Candle With Me,” in which Ruess made sure to belt out the wonderful and powerful line “We’re young, we smell good, we’re alone.”

Next Ruess said that they were going to sing a cover and pleasantly surprised the entire crowd by singing “Dog Problems” by The Format. It is a song the requires patience during the first listen on an album, but on stage, even without The Format’s other members, it is incredible. The song is filled with sounds similar to those of a musical and is uniquely The Format.

“Walking The Dog” was lively and Moore belted the line “If You Could See Me, Whoever I Am” in the background beautifully.

During the song “Barlights,” the band split the crowd into three parts to sing along and displayed an amazing chemistry. They all seemed to enjoy being together and made the song feel communal because of their interactions with each other and the crowd.

Next, half of the band took a short break to allow Ruess, Dost and Antonoff, the bands’ founding three members, to sing a song Ruess wrote for his parents. Titled “The Gambler,” the song is about his father buying his mother a flower shop. Dost played the piano beautifully, and it was obvious that Ruess loved to sing the ballad. They came back with another song by The Format, “If Work Permits.” The crowd and fun. were in sync throughout the song, as most were familiar with the music of The Format.

After announcing that there was only one song left, the band played “Be Calm,” which featured Moore playng her glockenspiel along with the entire band playing their parts as well as the whole crowd singing. But that was not the end.

“This is really awesome,” Ruess said after the band returned for an encore. “I’m trying to be cool about it.”

They started their last two songs with “All The Pretty Girls.” The female violinist from the Dusty Rhodes River Band came out and played and did a fantastic job. The last song, “Take Your Time (Coming Home),” Ruess dedicated to his girlfriend, who he had met five years earlier at the Troubadour, giving the lyrics “It’s a beautiful thing when you love somebody, and I love somebody” a whole new meaning to the crowd.

Clearly, the concert was fun, pun intended. The band is not one to miss as they go on tour again next February.