At the Rickshaw Theatre on Friday, March 20

The Cave Singers have become familiar faces in Vancouver as of late. They’ve already toured through the city a handful of times since releasing their most recent album, 2013’s Naomi, and as frontman Peter Quirk noted during the band’s Friday night appearance at the Rickshaw Theatre, “We’re super happy to be back in Vancouver twice in one year.”

Clearly, the Seattle-based band hasn’t worn out its welcome with these repeat visits, since it attracted an enthusiastic crowd despite the dismal weather outside. The room wasn’t quite full, but the floor in front of the stage was bustling nevertheless.

The night began with opener Kathryn Calder, who took the stage at a little after 9 p.m. and began “Turn a Light On” with an intro of pillowy keyboard tones. The New Pornographers member was joined by three backing musicians—whom she referred to at one point as “my wonderful dudes”—and they helped to flesh out the opening number’s graceful, cinematic arrangement.

This was only the second show this lineup has played together, which perhaps explains why the musicians never really cut loose, even during the shimmying grooves of Calder’s new single “Take a Little Time” (which comes from her upcoming self-titled album, due out next month).

Much of the set consisted of dreamy ballads, which didn’t make for a thrilling performance, although there was no denying the beauty of the airy, wordless vocal hooks that Calder frequently employed. On “New Frame of Mind”, she displayed melodic talents akin to those of her famed uncle A.C. Newman, while “Slip Away” was particularly lovely in its wistful melancholy.

Many concertgoers listened while relaxing in the theatre’s seats, but Calder eventually lured a few dozen fans up closer to the stage, and they gave her a warm ovation at the end of the set.

After a quick changeover, the Cave Singers picked up the excitement by tearing into a string of backwoods barnburners. Guitarist Derek Fudesco sat in a chair, hunched over the guitar that was perched on his knee; even in this sitting position, the towering axeman was nearly as tall as singer Quirk, who donned a grubby red baseball cap. The band didn’t have a bassist, but drummer Marty Lund made up for this with his energetic, maraca-shaking rhythms.

Fudesco laid down finger-picked riffs and Quirk accompanied him with back-porch acoustic strums on the dust-caked ditty “Summer Light.” During “It’s a Crime”, Quirk added to the rustic atmosphere with honking harmonica.

The best moments, however, came when the frontman put aside his instruments and performed unabashedly goofy dance moves. At times, his gruff, nasal tenor rose to a howl and he stood with one hand cocked sassily on his hip.

The vocalist’s charisma helped to make up for the music’s lack of variety, as nearly every song drew on a similar-sounding mixture of electrified blues and floorboard-stomping folk rock. Even when Lund left the stage for the stripped-down “Helen”, Fudesco’s cyclical licks were more or less the same as always. The closest thing we got to a curveball came when Quirk played some sleepy melodica leads during the calming “Haller Lake”.

The Cave Singers mostly avoided tracks from Naomi. Instead, they emphasized back catalogue numbers and tried out some fresh material, with Quirk admitting that playing the new songs was “a little bit frightening”.

The fans didn’t seem to share his concerns, since they happily bobbed along to all of the tunes, and everyone groaned with disappointment when Quirk bid his goodbyes and waved his ball-cap over his head. He wasn’t gone for long, as the band rewarded the fans’ cheers with a three-song encore.

The 75-minute performance eventually culminated in a noisy slide guitar freakout from Fudesco, with Quirk doing a kooky slo-man running-man dance and the audience roaring with approval. Clearly, there are plenty of Vancouverites who will eagerly anticipate the band’s next local show; knowing the Cave Singers, it likely won’t be too long of a wait.