So we’re pretty big fans of Devendra Banhart here, as you may have guessed from our preview. But Wednesday’s show could have charmed even the grouchiest hater—such was its scope and sweetness. In a set lasting nearly two hours, Banhart played from most of his catalog. There were mellow sounds from new record What Will We Be, as well as the curious, hissy doodles of his Young God debut, Oh Me Oh My…. He played a little from his loved-up opus Cripple Crow and “Little Yellow Spider” from Niño Rojo; he even played “A Sight to Behold” from the underrated Rejoicing in the Hands. Click past the jump to read the full review and see video of Banhart and his band in action.

Banhart strolled onstage with his band, comprising long-term associate (and producer of Joanna Newsom’s first album) Noah Georgeson, Luckey Remington, Little Joy singer Rodrigo Amarante, and Priestbird/Megapuss man Greg Rogove, who played at least half the show wearing a massive yeti outfit. The group (performing as the Grogs) conveyed a real connection to each other and a tenderness for Banhart’s songs; tracks from the new album had been rearranged for the show (including a smooth, simmering version of the normally upbeat “16th & Valencia Roxy Music”).

A couple times during the set, the band left the stage, and Banhart took a seat to perform acoustically. So much attention is paid to Banhart’s stage banter, his appearance, apparent kookiness, etc., it was a joy to see him simply as a musician, playing frilly Spanish guitar melodies (as on the spooky track “The Charles C. Leary”). The singer’s leap to “freak folk” poster boy some years back coincided with such gentle imaginations as “Little Yellow Spider,” but his first recordings for Young God were all fangs and flashy eyes—so it was most edifying to see him perform a nasty, spitty cover of Johnny Thunders’s “You Can’t Put Your Arms Around a Memory.”

The night’s biggest surprise, though, was how great  songs from Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon sounded. Its psychedelic epics made for a sometimes frustrating, all-over-the-place listen on the record but sounded gigantic live. The crowd hollered for an encore, and the band returned—Banhart now shirtless and grinning. He played Smokey’s sad, lovely “I Remember” sitting at an organ, before the collective (now including, Fab Moretti and Binki Shapiro of Little Joy) launched into a pleasingly ragtag “I Feel Just Like a Child”—a delight of a show.