By Jeremy GordonThe Daily Northwestern

Though the show had started at midnight, it was almost 2 a.m. Sunday before Brazilian Girls took the stage. With vibrant balloons covering her little figure, lead singer Sabbina Sciubba bounced up and down as she danced along to the music. Bassist Jesse Murphy and drummer Aaron Johnston played a thick rhythm section that everyone in the Metro felt in their stomachs. Keyboardist Didi Gutman also filled the air with shimmering melodies to create a perfect template for Sciubba to sing along to.

Brazilian Girls originally got their start as a house band at the New York club Nublu, and these roots were shown during the multiple call-and-response moments that peppered their set. Whether it was laying down gender lines during “Pussy,” inviting half the Metro crowd to get onstage and strip down to their underwear for “Don’t Stop,” or finally ending at 3:15 a.m., Brazilian Girls were at the top of their game. Though they aggravated Metro security by violating the no-smoking policy and inviting no less than three dozen people to dance with them onstage, the crowd ate up every bit of it.

After finishing the set, Murphy stayed behind as his bandmates went backstage, whipping the crowd into a frenzy when he barked: “What do you think? Should we play 6 more songs?” Exploding from backstage, the rest of the band came back up and launched into “Sexy Asshole,” from their new album “Talk To La Bomb.” When they finished for the second time, the crowd was eager for more until the lights turned on and everyone was told to go home. It was a torrid ending to an intense night, and even though the band isn’t actually from Brazil, the heat coming from the Metro was enough to make everyone forget the cold Chicago weather.

Reach Jeremy Gordon at [email protected].