Fun. at the mountain

Fun. singing in the Granite Room Wednesday night

Before their upcoming performance at President Obama’s inauguration, sold-out concert at Boston’s Orpheum Theatre, and appearance at the Grammy awards, where they have six nominations, the main men of Fun. first visited Wachusett Mountain.

Nate Ruess, Andrew Dost, and Jack Antonoff  sang a few songs and kidded around with MIX 104.1 DJ Gregg Daniels during a 40-minute appearance Wednesday before a crowd of 150 contest winners welcomed into the radio station’s “Mix Lounge” (which you and I know better as the Wah’s Granite Room).

Granted, fame is fleeting, but at the moment Fun. is pretty huge, locking down Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best New Act among its Grammy nods. “We Are Young” was THE ubiquitous hit last year bouncing around Top 40, rock, and independent radio.  And it’s not like Fun. is having trouble selling concert tickets.

So a little publicity blitz is probably the last thing Fun. needs at the moment, yet the trio seemed to genuinely dig playing in front of a small group as the band cracked  jokes and stoked sing-alongs. The appearance was brief, but Fun. was anything but aloof. And those wondering how this band could leap so effortlessly from “Glee” to Grammy needed only to listen to the three songs Fun. played at Wachusett.

Fun. first played “Some Nights,” a song that swings even harder for the fences than “We Are Young” does, with Ruess belting out urgent lines about fighting the good fight while the trio inflated the anthem with whoa-oh-oh-oh chants.  Next came “Carry On,” a song about not giving up that’s such a pop confection only a full-on curmudgeon could resist. And “We Are Young” wrapped up the set, which even stripped down to the basic trio (maybe Wah can get Janelle Monae to visit on her own, no?) is all tumultuous, cinematic pop. Fun. certainly puts its focus on entertaining, but does not skimp on substance. Add a streak of goofy humor and pointed principles (during a Q&A session, one fan thanked Fun. for its work with Ally, which supports gay-equality initiatives), and it’s little wonder why so many people are welcoming Fun. into their lives.