When it comes to the live arena, The Dandy Warhols [ tickets ] will never be confused with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.

It's really a matter of consistency and dependability. Some nights, the Portland, OR-based group can be every bit as riveting as the Boss--or any other act you want to mention. On other evenings, the Dandy Warhols can be just OK. And, really, fans never know which band will turn up to a given show.

Fortunately, the Dandys decided to bring their A game to the Metro in Chicago on New Year's Eve. Correction: Make that their "A-plus game." The 2 1 /2 hour concert was the finest performance that this critic (and longtime Warhols follower) has ever seen the band deliver.

With only one hour left in 2008, and the countdown to midnight being projected on a large video screen at the back of the stage, the quartet looked dressed to impress as it greeted the capacity crowd. Then Peter Holmstrom, wearing a tall, black top hat, grabbed his guitar and the party was on.

The group--which also features vocalist/rhythm-guitarist Courtney Taylor-Taylor, keyboardist Zia McCabe and drummer Brent De Boer--wasted little time getting to the good stuff, fan favorites like "Not if You Were the Last Junkie on Earth" and "We Used to Be Friends."

Yet, it wasn't so much what they played as how they played it. The Dandys don't always manage to marry the best of their two distinct sides--the radio-savvy studio band capable of crafting exquisite pop nuggets and the feedback-lovin' live band that can blaze sonic trials with the best of the jam-band crew--but it was blissful matrimony on this night.

The music sounded close enough to what's found on the records, which allowed fans to sing along to the tunes that they knew, but still "live" in a way that concert-goers felt like they were witnessing acts of creation. The crowd--a mix of ardent Dandy fans and those simply looking to find somebody to kiss come midnight--ate it up.

As the clock struck 12, and Taylor-Taylor led the audience through the obligatory "Auld Lang Syne," champagne was spilled, kisses were exchanged and high-fives delivered. Then, the Dandy Warhols went about making sure that 2009 got off on the right musical note for these fans.

Over the next 90 minutes, the band touched upon a thrilling assortment of tunes from throughout its six-album catalog. It stopped often on 2000's "Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia," which meant such adrenaline-rich rockers as "Horse Pills," "Get Off" and, of course, "Bohemian Like You."

The one knock is that the group didn't play enough off its latest album, ". . . Earth to The Dandy Warhols." The "Earth" tracks that the Dandys did play, especially "The Legend of the Last of the Outlaw Truckers AKA the Ballad of Sheriff Shorty," were so terrific that it made one wish the group had delved a bit further and called up "Valerie Yum" and/or "Mis Amigos."

Given everything else about this night, though, the set list seemed like a minor concern. The Dandys had come to play, in a way that some probably didn't know they were capable of doing, and the result was a fine way to say goodbye to 2008 and hello to the new year.