What one word can capture Lions’ show at Longbranch Saloon on Wednesday night?

You need three: wild, intense and intimate.

“Wild” is the descriptive word lead singer Josiah Smith chose after his mic stand was broken midway through the opening song.

The other band members played on a low platform, but Smith stood at the front of the crowd. In the small venue, fans could crowd the mic and sing each word along with the band.

The start of Lions’ set sent of a wave of insanity through the crowd as the audience rolled toward Smith with a little too much force. However, despite the mic stand accident, the show went on with fans holding out the mic themselves until a replacement stand arrived.

If ‘wild’ describes the crowd, then the band was ‘intense.’

Complex high tempo melodies and heavy, driving rhythms made Lions’ set extremely technically complicated. The drummer, Nathan Larson, set the pace fast and propelled the set forward in this percussion-heavy band.

Lions played through “MTNZ,” the first of the band’s four albums, providing a musical introduction for anyone there for the first time. The band pulled off being technically polished and on point while keeping in synch with the familiar insanity of the crowd.

After the show, Smith described this synthesis of the roles of musician and entertainer.

“When we first started, even if no one was there, you got to gear up and go do something that’s an expression of your creativity,” Smith said. “Now we have people who care about us, so it has brought a new obligation to it. That’s really fun, and it’s different.”

Finally, Longbranch Saloon provided the perfect venue to illustrate the final word: intimacy.

The fan base Lions has in Knoxville is overwhelming. As a first time fan, I was unprepared for the level of devotion and passion the crowd felt for the music.

Each member of the mass of bodies surrounding the microphone screamed out the lyrics of the album like they helped write it themselves. Smith danced and jumped with the crowd, occasionally even stepping back to let them have the mic.

For most of the set, the group let the music communicate their thoughts, but Smith took a few choice moments to express the band’s gratitude for the crowd’s enthusiasm.

“This song means a lot because it started this,” Smith spoke over the crowd. “We wouldn’t know most of you or be hanging out with you all now if it weren’t for this song.”

It was in the moments between Lions’ kinetic performances that the bond between the band and the crowd really showed. At one point a fan jumped on stage between tracks and passed a cookie around for the members to share. People near the stage offered drinks to the sweat-drenched musicians at the end of the album.

Smith closed the set by thanking the crowd a final time and acknowledging the intimacy within the band itself.

“These guys are my family,” Smith yelled over cheers. “Thank you so much for constantly showing us a good time.”