You know how in some movies they’ll show the young female protagonist dancing around alone in her room. It’s usually to something quirky and the dance moves are always the kind you’d never want to do in public. It’s kind of a shortcut to get the audience to quickly love and identify with that character. Call it cheating if you want, but at its best, it’s great. Just think about that part in Ghost World where Thora Birch danced around to that Bollywood number. Love it. Well, the reason scenes like that are so popular is because human beings just love to watch a cute girl dance around in an adorable, uninhibited manor — which brings me to the Grates’ Hot Freaks! show.

Patience Hodgson is easily the cutest, most energetic frontwoman I’ve ever seen. She recently died her hair blond, which is arguably the only way her personality could have gotten more sunny. From the very get-go, she hopped around like a six-year-old and smiled the entire time. Seriously, I took about 100 photos of the Grates and she’s smiling in almost every one. She’s laughing in a considerable amount of them, too. The girl’s just a big ball of joy.

Oh, right. The music! I love the Grates on record, but it’s kind of hard to remember to talk about their sound days after the show. Patience leaves such an impression, that it’s all you’re likely to remember. But we got all sorts of great Grates songs, including my personal favorite “19-20-20,” which Patience used as a great opportunity to do the twist and hop about on one foot. And for that yell that launches into the last section of the song, she jumped into the crowd and asked a middle-aged guy to give it his best. He howled so loud that her eyes went big and she almost forgot to grab the mic back to finish singing the song. Other highlights included “Inside Outside,” another Gravity Won’t Get You High gem, and “Burn Bridges” off their newest album.

But the biggest surprise about the Grates’ show was a surprise for everybody — band included. When Patience cleared out the area in front of the stage to start doing some ribbon twirling, a girl in spandex ran out from the crowd and joined her in some ribbon gymnastics. At first I wondered if this was all a great plan by the band, but everyone’s surprise gave it away. This was just a great move by one of their fans. After the song was over, Patience and the girl briefly discussed how they made their ribbons (the girl made hers with chopsticks, Patience bought hers — she lamented her own lack of DIY spirit).

More photos after the break.