Rhys at an earlier show, imploring the crowd to help him remove this freakin' helmet.Photo: WireImage

We're sorry to report that the whimsical Welsh band Super Furry Animals seems to have abandoned its full-on Yeti outfits and shiny space suits. Friday night at the Music Hall of Williamsburg, they simply wore matching jackets with the SFA logo. Halfway through the two-hour show, however, front man Gruff Rhys did excuse himself for a couple of moments (“After this song we're going to have an interlude where we have a drink and give you all a chance to swap e-mail addresses”), returning with an oversize, Power Rangers–esque helmet on his head. He then sang “Receptacle for the Respectable” with his microphone held up to the eye socket. The band seemed wary of its own shtick. The night's set list was generated from votes collected on the group's blog, but Rhys did not fully cede control to the fans: “We're going to play 'Northern Lights' now,” he said (the crowd: “Woo!”), “but we're going to play it in the style of Teenage Fanclub.” By night's end there was hardly a song on the ballot that they hadn't played. —Elizabeth Black