Sunday’s show at the Maintenance Shop was one of the most eagerly awaited of the semester. The event sold out in less than 48 hours. It doesn’t take a lot of analysis to realize that Alkaline Trio is one of the hottest acts in the world of indie geekdom.

Fans showed up hours ahead of time, some trying to procure tickets. Others hoped to catch a glimpse of dreamy singer Matt Skiba. But one word describes this show – anticipation.

Alkaline didn’t let a soul down.

As doors opened, fans made a beeline for the merchandise table to obtain Trio swag including vinyl, new shirts and an impressively macabre button. The pin pretty much summed up Alkaline Trio’s dark, twisted image: three church choir boys bleeding from their foreheads. Skiba reinforced this idea by donning a black and red Baphomet shirt – complete with upside-down pentagram – on stage. Rest assured, these guys are closer to punk than Marilyn Manson.

As the M-Shop crew brought down the house music and pulled up the stage lights, fans went into an immediate frenzy rocking out and throwing up bullhorns to “Private Eye,” the first track off their latest album, “From Here to Infirmary.” Alkaline Trio played a couple more off that effort and then delved into its catalog-playing material from each of its prior releases as flashbulbs continued to go off. Fans sang along throughout the set. It was a good thing, too. Vocals were difficult to hear at best due to the Trio’s overbearing stage volume.

Despite this, the band and its fans looked to be pleasantly at home with each other, each feeding off the other’s energy.

As the Trio drank more beer, they felt moved to share vocally slurred sentiments with the audience, saying “this is very nice, a good place.” After these comments, the band prefaced “Clavicle” as “a song about . cannibalism,” singing, “I want to wake up naked next to you/ kissing the curve in your clavicle.”

Skiba’s dark humor didn’t end there. He informed fans that “Trouble Breathing” was written about a friend who died of the “suicide disease.” He said it in a way that lacked sincerity and sounded so matter-of-fact that it sent a chill down one’s spine.

Despite any amount of beer consumed or energy expended, Alkaline Trio finished just as strong as it started, closing its set with “Crawl” and “Bleeder,” in which Skiba sang a bar from Semisonic’s “Closing Time” prior to starting the tune.

Fans, undaunted, demanded the band’s presence, beckoning it to take the stage again.

Eager to please, the Trio cranked out an early song, “’97,” to the tune of “Drive it through/’Cause backin’ up now would be next to impossible.”

Alkaline Trio had no intention of backing up. The night was a full, head-on trip chronicling morbid tales of drinking, girls and lost friends.