Guided by Voices/Warren Zanes at The Dame: It was tough to tell which was the bigger deal here. On one hand, we had the opening of The Dame, a new Main Street club reaching out to roots-rock audiences still mourning last summer's closing of Lynagh's and to indie-rock crowds that haven't had a serious home since the Wrocklage shut down more than seven years ago. But this was also the night Robert Pollard finally brought Dayton's Guided by Voices to town.

As a club, The Dame proved a comfortable and accommodating venue for the GBV faithful. As a concert, Pollard and company clearly were out to have fun. More than 40 songs, including a half-dozen entries from its upcoming Earthquake Glue album, were crammed into a two-hour-plus set. Lethargy and the show-opening Red Ink Superman were cranked up with a punkish, almost militaristic swagger, while newer tunes such as I'll Replace You With Machines boasted a tighter twin guitar attack. Just when the show's anthemic charge began to sound ponderous, Pollard whipped up such party favorites as Twilight Campfighter and Glad Girls. Throughout the fun, Pollard served as a merry, audience-friendly ringleader for a rock show favoring hard-won thrills over frills.

Former Del Fuego guitar slinger Zanes was equally outgoing, though his lean trio set drew inspiration more from pop-based story-songs (When the World Gets Weak) than the loud, turbo-charged carnival drive fueling GBV's set