If you believe the media, television and conventional wisdom, punk is dead.If you were at Paradise Rock Club on May 6, you'd know they're all lying.

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, New York's newest punk phenomenon, blew into Boston on Tuesday, a whirlwind of sneering, hard rocking attitude, that left the sold-out audience at Paradise breathless. Karen O blossomed into a punk rock goddess as she strutted around the stage, growling and spitting lyrics as Nick Zinner and Brian Chase created the proverbial wall of sound behind her. But for all of Karen's sex appeal and magnetic presence, make no mistake: The Yeah Yeah Yeahs are a band in the fullest sense of the word.

The band picked up huge buzz when they released their self-titled EP, and are now touring to support their debut full-length LP, "Fever To Tell." Their set list at Paradise was a great mix of old and new, with their EP classics brilliantly mixed in with new songs that are just as catchy, just as rocking and just as memorable as anything else they've released.

The show started fast and never lost speed. Two newer songs, "Machine " and "Man, " set the pace, which was nearly topped on the third song, "Bang," a huge hit with fans of that first EP. Karen's small and thin body, dressed in the punk-rock uniform of a mini-dress over painted-on jeans and bright orange Converse All Stars, seemed to fill the whole stage as she dinosaur-stomped to the beat of the songs and growled the lyrics at the fans surrounding the stage. She liked to reach out into the crowd, and even accepted a ring and a bracelet from a couple of fans within arm's length. She also engaged in her other notorious stage antic: spitting beer on the crowd. After taking a swig of Heinekin, she let it spray gently onto those in the front row, half of whom cringed and wiped at their hair and half of whom laughed with glee. After all, getting the goddess' spit on you is quite the honor.

The crowd was so excited and responsive that it was almost hard to tell when they liked songs less or more, but highlights were certainly present. "Art Star," a cheeky spoken-word tune that is interspersed with bouts of screaming and giggly humming, had the entire crowd screaming and bouncing along, while "Kiss Kiss" nearly brought the boys to their knees as Karen strutted about and teasingly offered her lips to the air. "Kiss Kiss" was also introduced as one of their love songs and was dedicated to the entire crowd that night, along with Karen and Brian's significant others. Single Nick was left with the audience, who I'm sure would have provided him with more than enough love, if he would just give them a chance.

The set was blistering and incredible, and when the Yeah Yeah Yeahs came out for their encore of "Our Time," everyone sang along in an effort to keep them on the stage. But alas, the crowd encouragement didn't seem to work, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs left for good, but not before resurrecting punk rock, if only for just one night.