MUSIC: The Plimsouls at SXSW/Club Exodus 3/15/06

Club Exodus. As we knew we'd be heading there for the World Party/Plimsouls show, we joked about the name of the club all day in relation to the Bob Marley song of the same name that features the line, "Movement of jah people..." Well, there was NO movement of people at all at Exodus that night, as they literally packed us in like sardines. It was wall to wall and you couldn't move---the perfect setting for a Plimsouls show. Don't know how I pulled it off, but I was able to worm my way up front to about six feet from the stage, and was perfectly placed to catch one of my all-time favorite bands. A band I never dreamed I'd get a chance to see live again in this lifetime. Seconds before the show started I had a nice and humorous chat with a sweet "kid" in his mid-thirties who was standing next to me. He was in "awe" when I told him I had seen the Plimsouls a few times way back in the day. As a youngster in the '80's he became a fan after seeing the 'Souls in the movie Valley Girl on cable, "a couple hundred times," yet never had the chance to catch them live, as he was far too young for rock clubs then. So as Peter & the boys took the stage, I told the kid to brace himself...

Yep, it's the Plimsouls all right! BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM! A dose of sixties R&B & British Invasion influenced hard rock n' roll---right between the fucking eyes! They were loose, yet every bit the balls to the wall live force they were in back 1982. The original front line of Peter Case, Eddie Munoz, and David Pahoa intact and kicking out the jams, were backed by a youngish looking drummer who's a dead ringer for power pop afficionado Jordan Oakes. Eddie was particularly "on" this evening. His ace guitar lines punctuated by constant Townshend-esque windmills. And you really have to take your hat off to a guy whom 25 years later can still pull off taking the stage in tight purple pants and bright green desert boots! Big props to Eddie!

And geez, Peter Case is still one of the all-time great singers of rock n' roll! Sure he had some rough vocal moments during the set, but damn, you rarely see rock sung with such passion and soul anymore, as the packed and enthusiastic crowd inspired Peter to keep giving more and more. The set list for the evening was everything I hoped it would be---did they read my mind or something? All the old favorites were delivered hot and hard: "How Long Will It Take?", "Great Big World," "A Million Miles Away," "I'll Get Lucky," and my personal favorite, "Hush." Their traditional set closer, the Kinks' "Come On Now," is a cover they still own, and the crowd brought them back for an encore I certainly wasn't prepared for: The Easybeats' "Gonna Have A Good Time." GEE-ZUS!!! The version was a bit of a shambles, as the stage was complete pandemonium by that point, but so what---a good time is exactly what we were all having!