Music

Now we know why Panic at the Disco did away with that galling exclamation point.

Actually, we first found out about a month ago when the extravagant Las Vegas emo-popsters released their eerily Beatles-like sophomore CD, Pretty. Odd. Yes, that title discloses some residual tongue-in-cheek grammatical cheekiness. But the disc's music revealed a band that's maturing far beyond the vaudevillian precociousness that brought it platinum prominence in 2006.

A disarmingly assured and loose Panic at the Disco turned in a 65-minute headlining turn at the Honda Civic Tour's stop at the Palladium Ballroom on Friday. That the gig seemed over almost as soon as it'd begun is proof enough that like its protégé, Fall Out Boy, this band is no fluke. That it did it without almost any sort of onstage accoutrement save for some inventive mike-boom and side-stage lights makes it an even stronger triumph.

I mean, c'mon: singer Brendon Urie didn't even wear makeup. Instead, he wore a finely controlled singing voice, and guitarist Ryan Ross left the bespoke saloon duds behind for a natty suit and an array of spacey (though frequently badly tuned) guitar tones.

The key: also like Fall Out Boy, Panic has reinvented itself to sound more classic, and thus (hopefully) more lasting to maturing ears. But unlike the bigger act, Panic's also growing as musicians and as a collective unit. That it abandoned plans about a year ago for a My Chemical Romance-style concept album to produce the comparably sparse and downright dainty Pretty. Odd. is testament to how Panic is blossoming in public.

It's even adapted the optimistic, organ- and melody-driven new style to the old songs. "I Write Sins Not Tragedies" now sounds like Jim Croce's "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown" might have had it emerged three years ago instead of 35. "Camisado" has a sleepy bluesy groove with lots less flash.

Granted, a fair chunk of the near sold-out young crowd was at least partially puzzled by the shift. But they were warned. And if they're astute, they'll know that the time to Panic is now, just as in 2006.

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