“Nec Pluribus Impar”, read the large banner behind French electro-rock band Phoenix as they played to a packed crowd at Webster Hall in New York last night. The band’s slogan affectively translates to “Second to None”, which would perfectly describe the sight of Dan Aykroyd helping himself to generous pours of Patron from behind the bar in the VIP room upstairs. Inexplicably, Aykroyd and fellow SNL alums Bill Murray and Molly Shannon were rocking out all night to the band’s songs. “They are going to be the first French rock band ever, I like them a lot,” Murray told us and by that we mean that he was standing right there next to us sharing the same air and the same rock show and conversing with us about it. Wow.

Oh yeah, the music: The band delivered an extended rocked-out version of “If I Ever Feel Better”, and a pensive, mellow version of “Funky Square Dance,” but lead singer Thomas Mars really had fans erupting during the last song of the night, “Napoleon Says”, when he took a stroll twenty feet deep into the crowd. Our new best friend Bill Murray became so psyched by the antics he began air guitaring (with chords!), and Aykroyd declared, “They’re amazing!” before laying into his tequila.