Nada Surf Rock Intimage Gig at CMJ -- Exclusive Photos

New York City's Mercury Lounge has the feel of an unfinished basement, complete with brick walls, low lighting and concrete floors. Bands on the lineup are often forced to leave their gear piled up on the wall next to the crowd due to the venue's close quarters. All in all, it's a place that's known for hosting up-and-coming artists and not, say, veteran rock bands who have been around for the past 15 years.

Not that Nada Surf had been selling out big arenas prior to their headlining slot at Saturday night's Paradigm Showcase, which was part of the CMJ Music Marathon. However, with the huge turnout, they certainly could have benefited from a much larger space.

Nevertheless, the trio from New York made the most of their surroundings by digging into their catalog, and the crowd made up of a mix of 20-somethings and middle-aged fans ate up every minute of it. Nada Surf started things off slow with the acoustic 'Blizzard of '77' and then went straight into the upbeat 'Happy Kid,' both of which are off the band's critically acclaimed 2002 album, 'Let Go.' They would revisit that record again later in the show with fan-favorites 'Blonde on Blonde' and 'Hi-Speed Soul.' They also played cuts off of 'The Weight Is a Gift,' from 2005, including 'Blankest Year' and 'Always Love,' the latter of which wasn't on the original set list, but lead singer Matthew Caws decided to add it after it had been repeatedly shouted from the crowd.

Sandwiched in between old Surf songs were four tracks from the group's newest album, 'If I Had a Hi-Fi,' which only consists of covers. Although the crowd had been screaming for the band to play hits throughout the night, fans didn't seem too disappointed when the band broke into the Go-Betweens' 'Love Goes On' and Depeche Mode's 'Enjoy the Silence,' singing along with Caws and dancing to the backbeat from drummer, Ira Elliot.

Since their debut album, 'High/Low' dropped in 1996, Nada Surf have come a long way, a fact that Caws alluded to at the beginning of last night's show: "I remember playing [at Mercury Lounge] a long long time ago, and I used to ask people to come up, so excuse us for feeling cramped." But the so-called "cramped" area didn't seem to damper the band's spirits, particularly during their last song, 'Blankest Year,' where the crowd once again screamed and sang along at the top of their lungs.