What happens when you cross Gogol Bordello with 30 art damaged geekcore freaks? Well, you get sold out venues filled with dancing converts and one of the best live performances you will ever see. This could only be Chicago’s self-described “punk marching band,� Mucca Pazza. And if you were lucky enough to catch them at last weekend’s Rialto show during Club Crawl, you will surely be dragging all of your friends with you when they return, which they joyfully promised to do.

The “punk� in Mucca Pazza doesn’t come from the music so much as the attitude. All 30 band members (except the cheerleaders) are dressed in ragged, secondhand mismatching marching band costumes. The most charming was the impish fellow whose costume was about three sizes too small, a detail which treated the audience to a prime view of his hairy pot belly. This is much more charming than it sounds, especially because he pretended to be drunk the entire time.

And the music – well, that was a fascinating potpourri of gypsy Eastern Bloc, classical, surf and experimental styles all tweaked with weird eastern European tonalities. It’s like Danny Elfman on psychedelics running naked willy nilly through a gypsy camp in Romania. Or something like that. The instruments ran the gamut from accordion to sousaphone to megaphone to tuba and guitar.

And it’s important to know that the band didn’t just march or stand there and play. They are not just musicians, they are performance artists. Every single band member had hilariously animated expressions on their faces during the entire performance. And though the band didn’t really need their cheerleader (as the audience instantly became cheerleaders themselves), she was still a great addition. Her adorably goofy moves and stage presence only fed the energy of the show.

And they kept the crowd guessing. Just when the throngs of new fans would be peaking in the glory of the musical art explosion onstage, each musician would freeze and a small cluster of band members would appear out of thing air and suddenly begin playing while standing on the bar in the back of the room or hanging from the balcony.

Any band that can get a crowd of 700, the majority of which have never heard of them, dancing, pogoing, screaming and beaming in a span of 10 minutes definitely has a good thing going. Now the Club Crawl crowd isn’t the usual downtown Rialto crowd. These are people that only make it downtown a few times a year for the Crawl or Tucson Eat Yourself. They aren’t the same familiar vintage wearing musicians and artists you see roaming around the Red Room or Congress every night. But Mucca Pazza managed to reach those and the frat boys, the soccer moms, the cowboys, the gangstas and everyone in between. Now that’s worth noting. There is already a very shaky cell phone video documenting their Rialto performance on YouTube.

Check it out here:

Though most probably haven’t had the pleasure of experiencing or even hearing about Mucca Pazza in these parts, they have made the scene at Lollapalooza, “Late Night with Conan O’Brien,” among other notable gigs. Plus, they have two albums out of original material along with covers, the most recent of which was released just last summer. Not too bad for a band that started out as a joke.

Before the band started playing, all I wondered was how little each band member would get paid when all the funds were divided among 30 members and a tour manager, but after seeing them perform I wondered how such a talented gaggle of likeminded delightful freak geeks managed to find each other, even in a large city like Chicago. They all had the same sloppy-haired, wide-eyed, scruffy-faced appearance and they all played with the same total abandon. And they were all clearly having the time of their lives.

Whatever strange forces brought this group together, they must be thanked. And bandleader and composer Mark Messing did just that during one of their audience-forced encores when he beamed at the audience and marveled at how much fun Mucca Pazza has every time they play. And talent, unique performances, great music and all the rest aside, that in itself is worth the price of admission.

When are they coming back? They didn’t say, but the band knew they made a big impression and they will be back. They promised!

For more information, visit www.muccapazza.org or www.myspace.com/muccapazza.