When Capital Cities finally walked out onto Summerfest's Miller Lite Oasis stage more than 20 minutes late, each of the band's members was wearing a unique article of clothing: Ryan Merchant’s black and white striped shirt, Aaron Prather’s sunglasses and black hat, Justin Thomas’s red bandana around his neck. What the band all had in common, however, were the smiles they all wore throughout Sunday night's show.

The originally two-person band is from Los Angeles, California, formed in 2010 when Merchant met Sebu Simonian on Craigslist. At first, they wrote jingles for commercials but it eventually evolved into producing serious music, adding more instrumentalists. Now seven-people-big, Merchant does the main vocals, keyboard and guitar for the band while Simonian does vocals and keyboard.

The MTV Video Music Award-winning group mainly explores the genres of indie pop, dance-pop and synth-pop in their music. They have one studio album, three EPs and seven singles. You’ve probably heard their most famous songs, "Safe and Sound" and "One Minute More."

The first four songs of its Sunday night set were good: "Drop Everything," "Swimming Pool Summer," "Tell Me How To Live" and "Origami." However, it wasn’t until the fifth song, "Center Stage," that the crowd really got grooving – the reason being that the band members, especially Merchant, started dancing more on stage. Choreographed spins and turns delighted the audience and encouraged them to dance along with the musicians.

During "Kangaroo Court," I really got into the wild mallet synthesizer – and it’s safe to say the audience did as well. As Thomas’s hands flew, becoming a blur with the mallets he was holding to strike the instrument, I could feel my blood pumping. This exciting song showed off his skills excellently.

Their newest song, "My Name is Mars," released just this past March, was fun to hear as Summerfest was one of the first concerts to be able to see it live. The unforgiving, confident lyrics, "My name is Mars, the god of wars / Covered in scars / I have no regrets" left me feeling empowered.

"Chasing You" had the crowd dancing everywhere but "Vowels" was by far the most excited the crowd got (besides the two well-known songs). The band spurred the audience to clap and get rowdy. This was a song I hadn’t heard or known previously, but after the first chorus, it was easy to figure out and I loudly sang along to the catchy song.

The most memorable move made by a band member on stage was during "One Minute More" the first time. Merchant finished singing the first chorus and paused, triumphantly putting his arms over his head in a "V" shape. It was just like Rocky at the top of the stairs of the Philadelphia Museum of Art in his victory pose. And at the end of the song, Merchant paused again, but this time clutching the microphone and leaning back a little, letting the song’s last words sink in. It was a meaningful and passionate ending to one of the tunes fans love.

Fans soon caught on to Merchant’s victory pose (with a little encouragement and demonstration from the band) and "I Sold My Bed, But Not My Stereo" had everyone holding themselves high and mighty. And they jumped around to show their excitement.

But the crowd didn’t truly feel protected and secure until – you guessed it – "Safe and Sound." I loved watching Simonian finally start dancing with the intensity at the same level of Merchant.

"Holiday" was a nice surprise; I wasn’t expecting Capital Cities to cover a song from Madonna. Again, Simonian showed off some of his killer dance moves, including mimicking pulling a rope. Thomas again went insane on his mallet synthesizer, and Merchant did the "come here" finger/hand motion to tell guitarist Nick Merwin to bring more guitar hype. I could feel the sound waves, making my entire body pulse with every beat. While this was cool and it truly made me feel a part of the music, it hurt my ears. I made a mental note to get a seat further back next time.

Besides the occasional announcement of the next song, Merchant didn’t really say much to the audience. However, for the reprise of "Safe and Sound," Merchant told concert goers to wave something in the air, whether it be a sweater, a sweaty towel that some of the band members threw into the audience or something else.

As I watched in horror as many audience members stripped off articles of clothing that I didn’t want to see taken off, it really boosted the excitement. Umbrellas, scarves and shirts were some of the many items I saw waving across the sky in circular motions. Having something in hand to whip around made this reprise different from the first time the band sang the song. It was good to end on the fans’ most loved song – and the perfect finish to a great concert that left fans feeling more than fulfilled.

Set list

"Drop Everything"
"Swimming Pool Summer"
"Tell Me How To Live"
"Origami"
"Center Stage"
"Kangaroo Court"
"My Name Is Mars"
"Chasing You"
"Vowels"
"One Minute More"
"Drifting"
"I Sold My Bed, But Not My Stereo"
"Safe And Sound"
"Holiday" - Madonna cover
"Safe And Sound" (reprise)