From the moment the Virgins took the stage at the legendary Mercury Lounge, they seemed to have forgotten the incredible ride they've been on for the last 12-18 months. At one of many venues in NYC that the band had rocked to win over countless fans and record labels alike, they took the stage to little applause from the supposedly sold out venue. It's as if the crowd predicted the lackluster run-through the band was about to churn out. There were no screaming girls, no fanfare from envious guys. The crowd was, to put it simply, dead. Maybe I was expecting too much. I had heard of a streak of career rocketing performances over the past year that proved the bands technical prowess as well as furthering their Page Six potential. With this performance billed as sold-out, their debut full-length album pending, and riding another wave of Gossip Girl hype, I expected a rowdy crowd riled up even more by a knockout performance. Instead, after the late show got pushed back even later, it seemed like the Wednesday night crowd was just treading water, looking for any reason to get their minds off the pending work day tomorrow. However, the eruption the crowd needed never came. A tepid performance kept the venue at room temperature. The Virgins were introduced in bizarre fashion by a girl dressed in a bunny suit who coerced the crowd into singing happy birthday to someone no one knew. We all just wanted to get on with the Virgins! We had waited long enough! The band took the stage to about 4 unenthusiastic hoots and 2 half-assed hollers, and ripped right into a catchy new track. The new songs sounded crisp and the hooks continued promise set by songs like "Rich Girls" and "Radio Christiane" from the band's 2007 EP. However, the band didn't give any personality to the well-crafted stories of sex, girls, and partying that paint the Manhattan-ite society the songs describe so well. The stage antics were sparse, the audience relationship was never built, and they ripped through most of their slim catalogue in less than an hour. Don't get me wrong, the band sounded great, but I came to see a concert- some innovation, some life to the music that has so often populated my top 25 playlist on my iPod for almost a year now. The best example of the phoned-in performance probably came with their hit "Rich Girls." The once drama-building, hand clap opening jam, seemed forced and used up versus the spontaneity it originally displayed in the band's live set. The only real highlight to the true- to- album version of the song, was guitarist Wade Oates' impromptu disco riffing that added some more funk to the already danceable groove. Anyway, the show was a fun time with good friends for $10. And I do believe, the Virgins have a healthy career ahead of them and it will be cool to know I saw them at the legendary Mercury Lounge. But it just didn't seem like the fun a bunch of young 20 something rock stars should be having. I hope this isn't a sign of the ware being recently signed to a major label does to a fresh, cool band. I believe they'll bounce back and rock upcoming shows at Webster Hall and Irving Plaza in NYC (before they take on Europe this summer) and won't forget that it's the gritty Manhattan scene of places like Mercury Lounge that made them who the are and who they are destined to become.