Cigarettes After Sex Bask In the Afterglow At Toyota Center

Do you smoke after sex?
I don’t know, I’ve never looked.

Cigarettes After Sex founder Greg Gonzalez reportedly came up with the band’s name while dating a woman who smoked, and they definitely sound like something you could imagine playing while relaxing in a post-amorous state.

Apparently others agree. Despite not having a song that’s charted higher than No.16 (show closer “Apocalypse”), they almost packed the Toyota Center as they came to town for the “X’s World Tour,” thanks to YouTube and word of mouth building a devoted following. Last night’s show was remarkable not just for demonstrating the band’s appeal, but also the . . . let’s call it “remarkable consistency” of their performance.

CAS is known for live shows that are nigh indistinguishable from their recordings. Gonzalez and company (bassist Randall Miller and drummer Jacob Tomsky) played a short set by modern standards, and also went on without an opener. Instead, early arrivals were treated to genre-adjacent selections like “Sweet Jane” by the Cowboy Junkies, “Milk” by Garbage, and . . . “Como La Flor” by Selena? When in Rome.

The band took the stage behind floor lights beaming upward to make it look like they were still behind a curtain, and Gonzalez didn’t take his sunglasses off until after the third song (“You’re All I Want”), which was also around the first time he spoke to the audience, thanking us for coming.

That elicited some of the evening’s biggest cheers, though to be fair, the audience also lost it whenever Gonzalez wandered more than five feet from his mic. These guys are maybe the only band I’ve seen since the Cars that didn’t have to wash their clothes every night.

He’s not going to strain anything, is what I’m saying.

But it’d be disingenuous to say there were no highlights among the “consistent” nature of the songs: lots of cell phone lights during new cut “Tejano Blue” and older one “John Wayne;” the “Love My Way” (what’s up, Psychedelic Furs?) aesthetic of “Heavenly;” the big singalong energy of “Cry;” or the spotlight explosion during “Dreaming Of You.”

There must be something to the monochromatic approach. Every video accompaniment — both pre- (Chris Isaak’s “Wicked Game”) and during (“Sunsetz”) the show — were in black and white, while the band themselves were similarly goth-clad. Hell, they won’t allow color photos of their shows to be published.

After about an hour and 15 minutes, it was over. As unusual as it is to experience a concert these days that gets you home before 11, it’s fitting: because just like most dudes after sex, they want the afterglow to end as soon as possible.

Cigarettes After Sex’s appeal to our inner emo adolescent shouldn’t be discounted. They filled a decent-sized venue last night and had most of that crowd singing along to almost every song. If they couldn’t be bothered to stand up during, well, that’s pretty on brand as well.

Personal Bias: I, uh, have “Apocalypse” on my sleep playlist.

The Crowd: Everyone got the memo to wear the smallest black clothes items imaginable.

Overheard in The Crowd: “That was beautiful” [wracking sobs]

Random Notebook Dump: “He looks like an emo Kenny Loggins.”

SETLIST
X’s
Pistol
You’re All I Want
Dark Vacay
Nothing’s Gonna Hurt You Baby
Touch
Falling in Love
Tejano Blue
Neon Moon (Brooks & Dunn cover)
John Wayne
Cry
Sweet
Sunsetz
Heavenly
K.
Dreaming of You
Apocalypse

ENCORE
Opera House