Note to self: Don't wait to see a band until its last show. It's like showing up at a party at 2:30 a.m., the beer drained, the happy guests and relieved hosts still wound up from the ride that you, unfortunately missed.

Such was the case for me Saturday night, at Mac's Bar, 2700 E. Michigan Ave., for The Casionauts' last show. I probably got turned off from prior shows because the band's name made it sound like the members wear tin foil and TV antennas on stage.

The amount of times I've heard it mentioned — which includes news of the shows, and well, a lot of mixed opinions — is huge.

"I think one of my favorite parts of being in this band, besides for all the friends and the love, is I've probably never been hated this much before," keyboardist Ryan Balderas said.

From the show alone, I didn't see much to hate. The Casionauts were intense, complicated and funny — and much more hard core than I had imagined a band with multiple keyboards could be. The members performed their electro-rock-like songs with too many influences and too many characters steering the way — the crowd spending equal amounts of time dancing and screaming their lyrics back at them.

But this, of course, is all old news to everyone else. Apparently, The Casionauts' regulars are long used to the wild presentation.

But maybe that's also what people didn't like — the band's multitude of drummers and keyboardists does seem a little overboard. Or maybe it's how loud they all laughed when someone called them pretentious musicians, implying more than a hint of agreement.

And I suppose if you've seen the band enough times, it wouldn't phase you when vocalist/guitarist Jon Cendrowski bent over backwards while playing, his head hanging behind him while Sak leaned over and licked down his chest.

Their fans, however, were mostly concerned with dancing and seeing off a band that has clearly given them numerous nights as fun as this.

What's good about having three drummers — Dan Erck and Brandon Sczomak stationary at drum kits and Joe Sak flailing around hitting everything — along with two keyboards, a guitar and bass, is the bonus of making you wonder if the floor is going to break.

At least that's what I found myself wondering, when Cendrowski expressed a more mundane sentiment.

"We're supposed to act just as excited as if this were the first time, like we're not sick of singing the same songs," he said as Sak kissed his neck.

Man, what were their shows like when they were actually trying to get people to like them?

As a complete outsider, until they took the stage on Saturday, I knew I'd never have a clue.

But I learned instead that no matter how good The Casionauts' last party was (who has a bad last show, anyway?), I should have shown up sooner.

Amy Oprean is a State News general assignment reporter. Reach her at opreanam@msu.edu.