My Dear Disco did not let low attendance to their concert at the Clazel Thursday night steal an ounce of power from their stage performance; and those who did come out were left eagerly hungry for more.

The crowd was thin and indifferent at the beginning as the band began to set up their stage equipment. Photographers walked around casually, seeking angles they would exploit to capture their moments in time. Passive inquirers sat around the peripheries of the dance floor, waiting to be impressed.

One crowd member though, was much less apathetic. Near the front of the dance floor, in the chair closest to the stage, sat a young man in a white button-down shirt bearing a My Dear Disco emblem on its back. His very posture seemed to emanate anticipation. His name was Eddie Mills, a senior at Ohio State University, in town for the show.

Mills first saw the band at a show in Michigan, where he was floored by the band’s live delivery. He has since travelled to every MDD show in Ohio. The sparse attendance was not shaking his enthusiasm.

“I’ve never been to a show of theirs where they haven’t been amazing,” he said. “I’m expecting to be blown away as always.”

The numbers on the floor quickly increased, yet remained modest, when the band suddenly came to life. The mood in the room intensified as drummer Mike Shea struck his sticks excitedly, grinning like mad behind the crashes and cracks before him. His clear drum set flashed the shifting colors of the lightshow filling the venue.

The music was powerfully upbeat, and while many were slow to take to dancing, everybody on the floor began to sway and nod to the poisonously catchy rhythms and melodies of guitarist Bob Lester and bassist Joe Dart. Lester stood cool and calculated as he executed his string-notes, as though he understood the language of dance and was attempting to translate it to the feet of the audience. The band calls this language dancethink, and it was starting to be heard.

Two girls danced barefoot in swaying sundresses, directly in front of the stage. Most of the crowd remained apprehensive as the two began to spin and shuffle to the beat. Their effort eventually, though, developed a magnetism as the surrounding crowd succumbed to want and shed their inhibitions, dancing along.

One of the two dance-catalysts was senior Adison Heyne. She first heard about the band through a friend and she fell in love with their sound. This was her first time seeing the band live and you didn’t have to ask to know she was pleased with the outcome. She refused, though, to accept any credit for the spread of the dancing, attributing it all to the band.

“It’s just their music,” she said. “It makes you want to move your feet, you know? Like their song, ‘Move your Feet.’ Get ’em going.”

The music took on a bit of a punk feel as MDD moved to their song “Amsterdam.” Tyler “Mudwarrior” Duncan poured himself into his synthesizers as though they possessed him; his body rocking to and fro with the eerily melodic tweaks he twisted into the minds of the absorbent crowd. Michelle Chamuel belted her vocals with a strength belied by her short, slender stature as she rocked and pumped her body with every heavy drop in the pulsing rhythm; her expression half-hidden behind her dark, encompassing sunglasses.

The song drew to a sharp pause and bright white light flooded the stage. Chamuel stood breathing heavy in the center, awaiting the return. The pulses of the sound-influenced light show replaced the bright as the music shot aggressively back, with Chamuel’s vocals now blasting through a megaphone with a hollow, almost synthetic sound. The crowd bit down and danced harder.

Duncan stepped away from his synthesizers and to the center of the stage to plug in his electrified bagpipes as he took the lead for the song “Clubbing.” The crowd cheered vigorously as he sat, near expressionless and trance-like, flitting his fingers over the instrument’s drone. The notes were sharp and seemed to fold over on themselves as he skipped them across to the crowd. The dancing was now at its hardest.

As the show neared its end, Lester thanked all of the fans for their attendance. It was revealed through his question of the crowd that many on the floor were at the Clazel for their first time, travelling specifically to see My Dear Disco live. He also thanked the venue, and asked for all to give it their continued support.

“This is an amazing venue, you guys have got to keep coming out,” he said. “You do not want to lose a place like this in your town.”

The band closed with a cover of Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face.” Chamuel commanded the lyrics “just dance” with all the heart she could pour. After the song ended, the band began to break down and prepare to travel back to their hometown Ann Arbor, prior to their next show in Grand Rapids, Mich.

Shea acknowledged that attendance could have been larger, but said the crowd that came out that night carried more than their own weight with their enthusiasm.

“I’d always prefer quality over quantity when it comes to crowds,” he said.

Gas money spent on the drive from OSU was of no concern to Mills. After the music ended he grinned from ear to ear as he stood, winded from dancing as hard as he knew how.

“The intensity’s always stronger every time I come out,” he said. “Definitely worth the trip for sure!”