The word de jour for the Shins is burgeoning. Though there are those that would disagree and say the band has been attracting new fans for years. I believe 2007 will be a good one for the Shins. With one foot in the world of bobbing teenage masses, and one in the scratchy humble roots they grew from James Mercer and company seem to be enjoying it more than ever, so it must be alright, right? Yes, and comparing Wincing the Night Away to Bill Cosby's favorite (shilled) dessert, the proof is in there.

"We sold the mother out"

You could sense the satisfaction and wonder in Mercer and the band when he took a moment to tell the audience that they were just informed the show was sold out,. He continued by telling a story of a past, non-sold out appearance at the Fillmore. "Pretty sure there was a huge curtain dividing this place up. And still there was room at the back". For disambiguation purposes the feat of selling out the Denver Fillmore is not the historically important one you might think. The more venerable Fillmore is the San Francisco building. However, the mile high version appears to award trophies to bands that sell it out, or at least the Shins made it out to look like that. Did they pull a not-so elaborate hoax when they triumphantly marched out with trophies in hand? Tokens of this Rocky Mountain Front Range milestone or ongoing tour shenanigans?

The Shins were never a band that knocked you out with their live show, and they still aren't, but you can still bank on quality musicianship and in spite of this they sounded good and performed well. Mercer appears fully settled in as front man, something that might be related to Marty Crandall’s keyboard being shifted to the back near the drums – which was smart as I always found the bunched up duo a distraction. This new confidence shows most when engaging the crowd with light PG-13 rated stage banter. Like when the crowd was asked to contribute to the choral sections of new Wincing… cut “Australia” instructing them to, “Please sing along and ‘La-la’ the shit out of it.”

When introducing "the new Shin,” Eric Johnson, known also as a member of fellow Subpop band, the Fruit Bats. The intro of “the new Shin” came off humorous, as if answering unasked questions on who this scruffy character on the side of the stage was. Johnson diligently added keyboards and acoustic guitar to the greater pop melodies of the night. Rounding out onstage personnel additions was Anita Robinson who joined for a handful of songs, most notably in "New Slang" to lend female harmonies. Her band, Portland duo Viva Voce, was present earlier in support.

One highlight of the show that seemed to have been missed by many of the young fans, as felt from the noticeable lull during its performance, was a reworking of "Girl on the Wing." Omitting the jagged space-rock keys and start/stop drums for a slower, down tempo, bass heavy, jazzed out version resulting in a product almost unrecognizable from the original. Cool, but I can't commit to liking it forever. Still, nice to see the stage experimentation with an oldie taken to new places.

Large sections of the crowd likely disagreed on that last point as the most applauded song of the night was unsurprisingly "New Slang." I’ve always wondered if bands get tired of playing the big hit? Do they feel cheap? Get bored with it? In terms of a go-to audience pleaser its not a bad one by any means, I’ve just always been curious. It is likely that I’ll never know but the reaction confirmed my previous suspicions with palpable evidence that the majority of the audience who pushed this show into trophy awarding status were post-movie fans. Welcome to life with the Shins today.