Crystal Castles

Published 8:00 am Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Alice Glass of Crystal Castles is a riot girl in a literal sense of the words. She thrashes and rampages around on stage, chain-smokes, flings microphones, and occasionally punches fans. She’s performed with cracked ribs from a car wreck and infamously forced organizers to shut down the Crystal Castles’ 2008 Glastonbury performance after she drove fans into a frenzy by repeatedly stage-diving and climbing the stage rigging. Most recently, Glass broke and then re-broke her ankle but still spent the first month or so of this year performing, on crutches. She’s a wild child, but is there any other way to perform Crystal Castles’ music? The disorienting combination of Glass’ creeping vocals and bandmate Ethan Kath’s glittering, thudding synths and shredding guitars is giant and otherworldly (one poetic YouTube commenter likens it to “alien orgasms”); the only way to truly experience this kind of stuff is through a ripping, raving, shellshocking performance—which Glass is all too happy to provide for their fans, physical safety be damned. With Suuns. ERIN K. THOMPSON

Tue., March 8, 8 p.m., 2011