Saturday, March 25, 2006

MUSIC: World Party at SXSW/Club Exodus 3/15/06

So there I was in the middle of the aforementioned packed dance floor of Exodus, surrounded by limeys, all in heavy anticipation of the return of the mighty World Party. Seems like every conversation I overhead featured a British accent going on about how long it had been since they’ve last seen the band. I hear you guys, seems like decades ago I last saw them in St. Louis. So yeah, we all then had a bit of a collective freak out as Karl Wallinger took the stage, backed only by fiddle player David Duffy and master electric guitarist John Turnbull, and kicked the show off with a devastating version of "Put The Message In The Box"—still the greatest pop song ever written about the act of voting. And a slew of World Party greatest hits proceeded to follow. Everyone in my immediate vicinity knew and sang along to each and every word of every song, including the "woo-woos" on the highly spirited and loose version of "Way Down Now." And during "Love Street" I noticed a steady stream of tears rolling down the cheeks of the very beautiful woman who was standing next to me. Easy to see how Wallinger’s brilliant tunes can have that effect on people.

Wallinger was as charming as ever. His customary and affable between song one-liners were plentiful and dead on funny, and Turnbull’s amazing guitar work nicely filled the absence of a full electric band. Given the time restraints of a SXSW set, the show was just about perfect. As he left the stage, Wallinger promised a new album and US tour in May. Bless you, Karl Wallinger...
www.worldparty.net

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

jeez-louize, all this and world party too. keep the stories coming steve. you saw all my favorite people. is jules married? maybe i could have him? like i said, she knows what she wants. a world party tour. i don't know how you guys stood 5 days of sonic ecstacy. thanks for the great love experts show at the hill last night. more awesome than usual. not that i know about these things, but i'd guess that you guys have gotten even better.too bad texas doesn't have that effect on everyone.thanks again for the undertow love fest.

steve scariano said...

Thanks for the kind words about last night---photos coming in a little while...

Anonymous said...

I, too, had teary eyes on several occasions during the World Party set and thank whatever god you pray to, for once IT WASN'T BECAUSE OF THE GOD DAMNED SMOKE!!
Yes, folks: NO SMOKING ALLOWED in this, the bar town to end all bar towns. Re: eyes a'mist: see below entry under "Plimsouls" for further 'splanation :)
-Happy Talk