By Rebecca Sirull, Inside Editor

To say that OK Go played a concert Wednesday night would require a very loose interpretation of the word “concert.” A more apt description would include comedy show, audience Q&A or simply a hangout session with the band. Bringing audience interaction to a whole new level, the indie rock band hit the stage at the Paradise Rock Club and even managed to stay there for a couple songs.

The show opened with DJ and producer Dustin Rosada, known as Dusty Digital, playing a set of remixed pop tunes. This was his first night performing with OK Go – and his first time meeting thegroup – before joining theband members for the New England and part of the Europe leg of their tour.

“As a producer around here I play a lot of dance clubs for the most part, so this is the first time I’ve played more of an indie vibe of people,” Rosada said. “It’s awesome, everyone’s so nice and respectful.”

Following Rosada’s set, a thin curtain descended overthe stage and the audience began chanting “OK Go,” both the band’s name and a direction to them. The curtain soon began to display a projected video montage, composed of clips from classic movies, spliced together to make a mash-up of famous faces and voices shouting “OK” and “go.” With the video’s energy building, the anticipation in the crowd grew until finally the band’s first notes rang out from behind its veil.

After OK Go gained fame for its creative and often viral music videos, it was fitting that the band would include that medium in its live performance. One of thegroup’s first viral videos, which helped launchits career in 2005, was for “Here It Goes Again,” where the band performed a choreographed routine entirely on treadmills.

The projections continued, this time of the band members’ faces, flickering and distorting, until finally the curtain dropped to reveal the real thing. Immediately it was clear this would be no ordinary show, — as confetti cannons werepoised at each corner of the stage, video cameras adorned each member’s microphone and crew members wheeled out a small platform into the middle of the crowd.

Lead singer Damian Kulash greeted his audience warmly, saying that he felt like he could see each of their faces in the small and intimate venue. He went on to joke around with the audience and ask if they had any questions for him. The fans played along, shouting out everything from “Scottish independence – yes or no?” to “Did you wait for your beard to grow back before you started touring?” (directed at bewhiskered bassist Tim Nordwind).  After a few minutes of Q&A – and occasional yelling at people to raise their hands in this classroom – the music resumed.

“My favorite thing about playing live is being able to feel people’s emotions so directly and so personally,” Kulash said to the News. “We make these videos that go crazy viral on the internet, but then I can’t really see people watching them. I can’t feel the joy.”

If the band was aiming for joy, then it succeeded, eliciting equal parts uproarious laughter and euphoric dancing/singing from the audience. The hall even momentarily turned into a recording studio as the band recorded a song live using coordinated audience claps and stomps to make a background track. As multi-colored confetti spurted into the air and bright graphics flashed across onstage screens, the night progressed through what the band refers to as different phases of the show.

“Our shows are really joyous and fun,” Kulash said. “I have a hard time sitting through anyone’s rock show for more than 20 minutes, so as a result I feel like we’ve made our show go through a lot of different phases. It’s a very immersive show and we’re doing production stuff that most bands don’t do until they’re in arenas and it’s a lot of fun to try to cram this huge show into clubs and theatres.”

While the production levelmight be on par with an arena, the show still retained the intimate feel typical of a Paradise performance. At one point Kulash declared it was campfire time and transitioned to a smaller stage in the middle of the crowd to serenade the audience on an acoustic guitar. To close out the show, the band pulled some of its front-row fans onstage, blurring the lines even further between audience and performers.

OK Go’s new LP “Hungry Ghosts” is set to release this October, featuring tracks from their EP “Upside Out.”

Photo by Rebecca Sirull.