Inadvertently. You see, the men's room at the North Star Bar—which is very small, only fitting one person at a time—doesn't lock. And I was in the middle of relieving myself when I hear the door open, and look back just in time to see the frontman of The Honorary Title sheepishly close the door again. Whoops. Sorry, Jarrod.

But my men's room mishap wasn't the important part of Sunday night's show at the North Star. And neither were the dildo-looking sock covers on the bar taps in the music room, pictured above. No, these things were simply humorous footnotes to the concert, because we were there for music, the music of Paper Rival (MySpace) and The Honorary Title (MySpace), specifically. And in a way, we were kind of lucky to get Paper Rival's music at all—an incident in New Orleans had left Paper Rival van-less, forcing them to cancel three of their appearances. Sunday's show here in Philly was only their second night back on the tour after the incident. Their performance made it clear that they were happy to be back in front of an audience playing music after dealing with some of the less pleasant, off-stage drama that goes with being a band on the road.

The band is changing their setlist each night, and the one we got on Sunday night was pretty crowd-pleasing, including songs from both their self-titled EP and their new album, Dialog. Not only is the material itself killer, but the band has improved its performance as well. When we saw Paper Rival last November, we saw a band that was really tight musically, and had great songs, but was a little reserved, and maybe even not carrying quite enough confidence. Not anymore. The band's confidence has grown considerably thanks to almost a year of non-stop touring. Frontman Jake Colleston is getting more vocal between songs with the audience—though we'd still like to hear a bit more crowd interaction from the band. Paper Rival's songs are so thoughtful, and so interesting, they (unlike some other bands' songs) lend themselves to a little bit of discussion of how the songs came about, why they were written, etc.

Of course, one of the nice things about this band is, even if they don't talk much on stage, they are super-accessible after their set. Paper Rival is still thankful for every new fan they get, and they really should have many more fans than they do. We guess we'll just have to keep beating the drum for them until more people take notice.

After the band's set, we got a chance to sit down for an interview with guitarist Brent Coleman, which will be posted later today, so check back in for that. And follow the jump for our thoughts on The Honorary Title's set from Sunday night.

Our concern about The Honorary Title in the past had been that their music got lost, either because they were playing in a venue that didn't suit them or to an audience that simply wasn't receptive, for whatever reason. Not so on Sunday night. The Honorary Title was firing on all cylinders, and their music sounded especially lush and vibrant in the intimate space of the North Star—the deeply personal nature of their music and lyrics, for the first time out of the three performances that we've seen, finally felt deep and personal.

The Honorary Title successfully navigated between the all-out rock of "Untouched & Intact" to the slow, dance-worthy "Revealing Too Much" and kept the crowd with them every step of the way. We never once got bored during The Honorary Title's set, and neither did anyone else. But we did get confused—specifically, whenever Gorbel talked between songs. At past shows, we'd wondered why he didn't interact with the crowd more. Now we know: when Gorbel talked, he spoke in some alien language. Frankly, we couldn't tell whether he was on something, exhibiting a quirky sense of humor, or simply displaying a massive case of A.D.D. But that didn't get in the way of the performance enough to keep us from enjoying it.

The Honorary Title and Paper Rival are making some of the best music out there right now. And proof of that was in town for all to see on Sunday night. If you weren't there, you really missed out. But fear not. These are two bands that Phillyist will be keeping tabs on. Just make sure you join us next time.

Paper Rival Setlist: Foreign Film Collection / A Fox in the Garden / Are We Brothers? / Keep Us In / Alabama / Weak Sister / Bluebird

The Honorary Title Setlist: Doesn't Make a Difference / Cut Short / Untouched & Intact / Stuck at Sea / Points Underneath / Far More / The City's Summer / Bridge and Tunnel / Along the Way / Only One Week / Cats in Heat / Anything Else But the Truth / Revealing Too Much / Stay Away / Everything I Once Had (Jarrod solo with audience)

Photo by author.