The Friendly Fires have got it. It’s as simple as that.

They’ve got that ever elusive, unquantifiable quality that results in something genuinely thrilling when they get together and perform in front of an audience.

But Friendly Fires have had it going on for a while now. Such was evident at one of their earliest L.A. shows opening for Lykke Li at El Rey in 2008, when they all but blew her out of the room with their intense stage show. Combining the sonic ambitions of early U2 with the English funk of Gang of Four, and an advanced degree in dance floor aesthetics, even the early arrivals in the audience seemed shocked by how good it was.

The band proved it wasn’t just a fluke when they played a triumphant set at this year’s Coachella Festival to an overflowing Gobi tent. In some ways, that made last night’s sold-out Friendly Fires headlining show at El Rey something of a victory lap. But instead of basking in their relative success, they performed like a band with plenty left to prove with an absolutely stunning performance that cemented their status as one of the best live bands out there right now.