On Friday night in Fort Greene, waves of people gathered at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple to bear witness to some great music. Headlining were Man Man, Philadelphia men of mystery and champions of manic gypsy-style rock; and opening for them, Yeasayer, winners of last year's hype war and harbringers of the world-music infused, psychedelic future.

Needless to say, it was, overall, a great show. The Brooklyn Masonic Temple is easily bigger than Webster Hall or Bowery Ballroom, both in terms of sheer extra bulk and for the huge space in front of its stage. On the outside the building is one monolithic beast (the Masons were not kidding), but inside it looks oddly enough like a high school, complete with linoleum floors and fluorescent lighting.

With this much more space and the truly packed crowd, both bands seemed to go the extra mile to make their sound bigger. The last time I saw Yeasayer was at the infinitely more intimate Mercury Lounge; at the Masonic Temple, the same songs from their debut All Hour Cymbals emerged transformed into near arena-rock. Along with the somewhat humdrum visuals, Yeasayer added a lot more effects and reverb to their arsenal, with tripped-out mixed versions of the lineup. This made their music sound that much more psychedelic and proggy, and Chris Keating's voice was routinely distorted, put back together again and looped. Their hit "Wait for the Summer" was given new legs with a Bollywood worthy guitar intro thanks to Anand Wilder. "Wait for the Wintertime", the last song of their set (and their heaviest overall) had Indian-flourishes throughout. There was a definite Lennon-sound to Keating's vocals; although Lennon probably never jumped around or fell to the ground quite as much as Keating does.

Man Man definitely out-trumped Yeasayer in the movement-department, though. With a truly dedicated fan-base, it's sometimes as fun watching the crowd go nuts when they're on stage as it is watching them. Dressed in all white and covered in war-paint, Man Man are like a punk rock Gogol Bordello, with plenty of hurdy-gurdy worthy beats. Their music can easily inspire people to mosh, and one fan in particular, who seems to be a regular at their shows, made sure to take his shirt off (displaying a truly impressive girth), jumping around and creating as much chaos as possible.

The night's biggest annoyance: between sets, for whatever reason, "Don't Worry Be Happy" and "Kokomo" were played over and over again. It really really brought the mood down. Whether it was some kind of performance art piece on the part of the show's promoters or the bands, hearing "Kokomo" more than five times in a row is something NO ONE needs to go through.