A sold out Paradise Rock Club was treated Wednesday night to one of the most consistent bands to grace both a stage and recording studio. Guided By Voices (GBV). Headed by middle-aged former school teacher Robert Pollard and backed by members of Cobra Verde, knows how to do only two things: play rock and roll and drink. To listen to GBV record is to delve into the creative minds of Pollard and guitarist Doug Gillard; to see them live is to witness the chaotic, very much decadent lifestyle that has become a stereotype of the music world. When I tell people that they bring a cooler of alcohol onstage with them, it sounds like I'm joking or exaggerating; I'm not. By my count, Pollard drank 10 bottles of beer while performing 46 songs in just under two-and-half hours. I've seen them five times now, and I'm still amazed and impressed by both numbers. But what about the music? Can they still deliver while so intoxicated? On a normal GBV night, there is a natural arc to the show. It steadily goes up in quality until the end of the encore (sometimes) when the alcohol begins to overpower Bob and he starts to resemble anyone's alcoholic uncle struggling to stand. The music rarely suffers, but one tends to stop looking at him as a rock legend, which he undoubtedly is within the indie music world, and more as a man plagued by his own demons that he tries to drown in beer.

Because of Boston's rules concerning smoking in clubs, the band was without their cigarettes on this evening. This problem a was constant complaint by the band throughout the show, causing them to "drink more" to compensate. Because of this, the band was a little sloppier by the end than usual, but only someone who has seen them before could have noticed. My friends were still impressed by the other staples of a GBV show: the raw energy and excitement of the music, the lyrical world that is so imaginative and unique, and the way these two forces are harnessed under a tight rhythm section, a strong bass, and two dueling guitars.

To say that Pollard is prolific is an extreme understatement. He releases, on average, six albums of music a year on various band names and solo projects. Two weeks ago, GBV's "Earthquake Glue" came out and served as a main focus in the show. New songs like "My Son, My Secretary, My Country," "She Goes Off at Night" and "My Kind of Soldier" were presented to the crowd of 30-somethings and college students with flair and pride. The guys know they wrote some great songs, and one could tell that they were as excited to play them as the audience to hear them live. Thrown into the mix were several songs from Pollard/Gillard side projects, many of which I was unfamiliar with but still enjoyed. Before the hard-to-place songs, Pollard will often tell the crowd, very much like the school teacher he once was, the title and album from which it came so that the class can follow where he wants us to go. His interaction with the crowd is one of the most endearing parts of the show. He isn't afraid to be just a man with a microphone, though he has no problem spinning it and catching it like a young Roger Daltrey. He's part performer, part friend and he knows how to be both to great effect.

For the real fans, the band threw in some oldies from the older lineups of GBV, including "Cut Out Witch," "Buzzards and Dreadful Crows" and "Game of Pricks," songs that expose the influence that The Who has on their music. Pollard does the scissor kicks and the dramatic poses, but he also has learned how to write melodies from Townsend and transport them like Daltrey. They even played 2001's "The Ids are Alright" to make clear the influence. Other standout numbers were "The Brides Have Hit Glass," "Back to the Lake" and "Everywhere with Helicopter" from last year's "Isolation Drills." While I mention just a fraction of the songs performed, I can honestly say that there wasn't a bad song in the set. Some of them were too new or too rare for me to know well, but GBV fans get used to that. It's a full-time job to follow his canon, and I simply do not have the time. Let it just be said that for 150 minutes, the crowd on Commonwealth was treated to exceptional music by one of the best in the business. Period.

Lastly, I would like to to the band for finding a decent opening act for once. Recent years have shown them to be piss poor at choosing bands, the awful, unwatchable Superconductor among others, but this time, they have broken the streak. The Oranges Band, were a straight-up rock band with a tinge of pop sensibility. They filled a half hour or so with songs that weren't catchy but enjoyable. It was a nice break to hear music that wasn't written like a commercial jingle to get stuck in my head for the next two months. And now I must set out to find "Earthquake Glue" so that I can discover all those bits of brilliance that were lost on me the first time around.