NEW YORK -- It was somewhat fitting that [artist id="2402281"]Cobra Starship[/artist] were tapped to headline Friday night's Taco Bell-sponsored [article id="1620770"]pre-VMA soiree[/article] at the Fillmore at Irving Plaza. After all, they are unapologetically about as cheesy as a platter of Nachos Bell Grande.

Still, the Cobras are most certainly doing something right. Last month, their third album, [article id="1619027"]Hot Mess, debuted at #4 on the Billboard[/article] albums chart. The first single off that record, the dance-floor packing, Leighton Meester-featuring "Good Girls Go Bad," just surpassed the million-download mark, giving the band their first platinum plaques. Oh, and they're nominated for a pair of Moonmen at Sunday's 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, including Best Pop Video.

Clearly, this is a band currently operating at -- or very near -- their peak. It might not get any better than it is right now. And frontman Gabe Saporta knows this. Which is why, on Friday night, he treated their brief 45-minute headlining set like it was [article id="1621334"]Jay-Z's historic one-night stand at Madison Square Garden[/article] (happening at the same time roughly 20 blocks uptown). Saporta strutted back and forth, tossed his mic stand high into the air, struck Rock God poses and drank in the ovations of his adoring fans, most of whom had waited outside in the rain just to see their favorite band in the close confines of the Fillmore. (Of course, it's entirely possible some of them were just there for the free burritos too.)

From the minute Cobra Starship strode onto the stage under a flash of lights and the opening strains of "The City Is at War," they looked very much like a band who knew that this was their night (though they were sharing the bill with Canadian pop-punk chanteuse Fefe Dobson).

They cracked jokes about their corporate sponsors -- after sambaing through "Smile for the Paparazzi," guitarist Ryland Blackinton asked the audience "How the Taco Bell are you?" and later called Mexico "the original Taco Bell" -- ordered their fans in the crowd to "put their fangs up" (a complicated two-handed move), and stretched the compositions on most of their catalog, working flicks of metal into "Paparazzi" and giving "Kiss My Sass" a guitarless, New Wave-y jolt.

Saporta introduced the self-effacing Hot Mess track "Pete Wentz Is the Only Reason We're Famous" as being "a song about sucking d--- to make it to the top," and said "My Moves Are White (White Hot, That Is)" is "about being awesome, or about striving for awesome." The band welcomed the Cab's Alex DeLeon and All Time Low's Alex Gaskarth onstage to help with "Snakes on a Plane (Bring It)" and closed with -- what else -- "Good Girls," with keytarist Victoria Asher singing Leighton Meester's lines.

Through it all, CS had a blast. And why wouldn't they? It was a perfectly cheesy night, in the best way. This was pop-punk (with the emphasis on pop), performed with tongue firmly planted in cheek. The only time it got a little hairy was when someone in the crowd chucked a half-eaten burrito at Saporta, but he ducked it and cracked a smile.

Because who knows, maybe that was just some fan paying them the ultimate compliment, especially if it was a burrito of the Cheesy Beans& Rice variety.

Watch the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards Preshow this Sunday, September 13, at 8 p.m. ET, followed by the big event, live at 9 p.m. Check out our interactive map of New York to see how the city is celebrating the VMAs all week long, and stay tuned for party coverage, concert reports, behind-the-scenes updates and more.