Tilly and the Wall have perfected the craft of the sing-along spectacle show. Five microphones spread across the stage adorned with white daisies. A long flowing scarf hanging from above the drum kit. Next to the drums, a tap dancing platform. White balloons float and are scattered throughout the stage. Wait, a tap dancing platform?

After the Birdwatchers United wrapped up a set of blisteringly fast-paced pop-punk—which resulted in a flurry of birdwatchers flocking to the merch stand—Tilly and the Wall took the stage at Neumos before 11pm.

A warm trance-like feeling emitted from the stage as Tilly’s army of musicians filled the stage to perform songs from this year’s O. The six-piece took every inch that Neumos was willing to offer and the result was akin to an experience you might receive at Bonnaroo. A big band more excited about the audience’s responsiveness than they are about the instruments in their own hands.

Of the bands Saddle Creek has birthed, Tilly and the Wall offers the most spectacular live show: tambourines clapping, keyboards, stage-dancing and the clip-clop of tap dancing poka-dot clad Jamie Pressnall. But the six-piece can do the garage thing too. Their inner B-52s came out in “Pot Kettle Black” where the clap-along sing-along and cheeky lyrics took form. As for “Beat Control” which sums up a paranoid female in a superficial world, the Faint’s influence came to the fore. On “Bad Education” Derek Pressnall’s wiry build came out of its shell, dancing around the stage, toting guitar in hand while his female mates rhymed “people” with “steeple” and he mouthed along.

The stage was flowery and inviting, but not more so than the voices of Pressnall’s bandmates. Neely Jenkins tried, but couldn’t hide behind her wall of push-broom platinum bangs as her on-stage presence was illuminated by her height and room-filling vocals. Her plaid print dress was a perfect contrast to bandmate Kiana Alarid, whose punky frame and silver dress, blonde curly locks and tattoos—not to mention a swooping alto—incited the crowd in even the cheap seats.

Jamie Pressnall left Conor Oberst’s bands in the early part of this decade to pursue her true calling: tap dancing. And although Tilly’s pull is largely due to her ability to provide perscussion with nothing more than the use of her tapping toes, tonight’s version of Tilly may have eclipsed her presence with an actual drummer. From modest beginnings in the prolific Omaha music scene to the band that now finds themselves and their built-in gimmick of tap-dancing percussion to be their niche, they seem to be not only tap-dancing, but moving in a forward direction all together.

Wrapping with an encore and one final tune inciting the all-ages Neumos crowd with “Sing Songs Along”, the band joined for one last bow before shuffling off the stage just as they took it: in perfect sequence.

Photos by Adam Forslund. For more on Tilly and the Wall, check out its website.