Pains of Being Pure at Heart score at Triple Rock

Of all the myriad subjects that Pains of Being Pure at Heart's smart and stylish frontman Kip Berman could have discussed between songs at the Triple Rock last night, he chose one that seemed completely out of left field (or down field?)

"We're sorry about your quarterback situation," the mop-topped singer suddenly muttered halfway through the hour-long performance, which was loaded with '80s alt-pop hooks straight out of John Hughes films, hair-in-the-face shoegazer-style guitar whirs, lovelorn lyrics and basically nothing that would've suggested the Brooklyn hipsters knew the Minnesota Vikings from the Los Angeles Lakers. Berman went on from there, too: "Hopefully, they can pick up the next [big superstar] in the draft," he said, drawing looks of confusion from the non-jocky, near-capacity crowd.

Everything else about Pains of Being Pure at Heart's overdue Twin Cities debut was rather predictable: It was short and feisty and featured about half the tracks of each of its two albums. Songs from the group's latest disc, "Belong," dominated the first half of the show and didn't go over too well with the crowd, with their sleepier guitar parts and more upfront, Morrissey-like vocals (the rather generically voiced Berman is no Moz). But the audience's enthusiasm picked up with the tempos and the noise level as the band got to highlights off its first album, including "Young Adult Friction" and "Contender." One of the new songs, "Strange" also made for strong, rousing finale.

Before saying good night, Berman told the crowd, "If you want to come talk to us afterward about football or indie-rock, please do." Who is this guy?