Monday night at the Firebird was full of deja vu, with bands performing that I had either seen many times before or could have sworn I had.

The Firebird stood near capacity as Damion Suomi took the stage with his indelible brand of Irish-inspired, booze-rocking, acoustic tunes.

KDHX hosted over 200 in-studio sessions this year, and our volunteer photographers kept up with all the action.

The "doom-wop" sound of Mister Heavenly is sure to get even the most subdued indie rock congregation moving.

ACT I

We are in a dark room in a nondescript building in St. Louis. As the lights fade in, we see 5 men sitting on a stage. They are HONUS HONUS, POW POW, CHANG WANG, TURKEY MOTH, and JEFFERSON. They all sit in silence, but this is broken when HONUS HONUS begins to tap his foot repetitively on the ground in a way so it is clear he is anxious about something. A pair of gold sequined slippers rest atop an amplifier; POW walks over to them, peers inside, and seeing nothing, retreats to his drum kit.

To understand Man Man's aesthetic, take a look at the creature on the cover of their newest record, 2011's "Life Fantastic."