Photos: Alessio Neri

SAN FRANCISCO — Vancouver rock and punk duo Japandroids returned to the Bay Area Tuesday for the first of two shows at The Fillmore, in support of recently released LP Near To The Wild Heart Of Life.

The high-energy show overflowed with intensity, turning large swaths of the dance floor into mosh pits. In other words, the Tuesday concert certainly didn’t feel like a school or work night show.

Singer-guitarist Brian King and drummer David Prowse switched back and forth between new and older material over the course of 90 minutes. They performed all but one track off the new album. Still, it was the older material, with which fans had stronger connections, that drew the loudest reactions of the night: “Fire’s the Highway,” “Midnight to Morning,” “Young Hearts Spark Fire” and “The House That Heaven Built.”

Craig Finn and The Uptown Controllers opened the show with a strong performance of their own. Craig Finn regularly interacted with fans as he explained the meanings behind his solo songs, which hearken to Springsteen. Finn, the leader of The Hold Steady, returned for Japandroids’ encore to cover AC/DC’s “If You Want Blood (You’ve Got It).”

Follow photographer Alessio Neri at Instagram.com/windowofcolor and Windowofcolor.com.