The Presidents of the USA, The Paradise, Boston, MA, 10/8/04 Oct 10 '04    Write an essay on this topic. Tweet Popular Products in Music The Dirtchamber Sessions, Vol. 1 by The Prodigy From $11 Jersey Boys [Original Broadway Cast Recording] by Original Broadway Cast From $8 The Bottom Line The Presidents put on an entertaining and high energy show, well worth the $15 ticket price. I was on a local ticketing website a few weeks back, looking at the various clubs it handles tickets for, and seeing who was coming to town. I found some interesting shows upcoming: Kings of Leon, The Donnas, Alter Bridge, Rich Robinson, and so on and so forth. But the act that really caught my eye was an act that for all intents and purposes, America hasn't heard from for the better part of a decade. Yes, the reunited Presidents of the United States of America were coming to town, and tickets were only $15, and it was a Friday night. Ka-ching. Sale made. You remember P.U.S.A., don't you? They sang about Peaches, and a Kitty, and had a large hit called Lump that Weird Al parodied into Gump. But soon, the humor ended, and the band's follow up to their double platinum selling self titled debut, II, bombed. They released an odds and ends collection as a farewell to fans, and then, they were gone, only a year or so after II's release. The band returned in 2000 with Freaked Out and Small, though they did not tour behind it, or put any real promotion into it. But now, with a new album, and a new found energy for the band, Chris Ballew, Dave Dederer, and Jason Finn are on tour supporting Love Everybody, which has garnered reviews ranging from very good to excellent, and has even gained the band some airplay at college and alternative stations for the first single, Some Postman. For this club tour, the band had a pair of opening acts, the first of which being United State of Electronica. Between the two chicks who sounded like drunken frat girls, and the group's annoying use of the same vocal effect that colored Bon Jovi's It's My Life, I couldn't wait for them to leave the stage. Thankfully, the next opening act was much better. Washington Social Club, a four piece band from D.C., delivered a solid 40 minute set of energetic power pop. They weren't the most original band around, but the lead singer/guitarist bounced around the stage with a big smile on his face, and the whole band seemed to be having a great time on stage. They played to the audience with abandon, and ended up winning the crowd over completely by the end of their set. I may have to check a CD of theirs out. So after a longish wait, the 3 man band called P.U.S.A. took the stage to a large roar of applause and shouting. Intent on capturing the hearts of the fans in attendance right away, they opened with Boll Weevil from the first record, and soon, the entire club was pogoing up and down, band included. Ballew, the lead vocalist, seemed taken aback almost by the ovation, and he seemed to be loving to be able to point the microphone out into the crowd and have the audience supply the words when he felt like it. Intent on keeping up the early energy, the band went into one of the three top 40 hits from the first record, Kitty. This resulted in a large shout along, especially on the bridge, with "f*ck you kitty, you're gonna spend the night" being built up louder and louder for 3 or 4 times before an enthusiastic shout of "OUTSIDE" took hold of the club and shook it to its foundation. With the presidential debate going on, the band wanted to keep us updated on the winner. "Did you hear who won the debate," Ballew asked. The crowd kind of stared at him blankly. We had no idea, we'd been in the club since the debate started, some up to an hour before the debate started. "BOSTON RED SOX," shouted Ballew, referring to the hometown team's series winning game earlier in the day, pushing them into the American League Championship Series (bring on Vader and Palpatine I say!). The group all but ignored II, playing only a couple of songs from that record. Instead, the bulk of the set came from the group's self titled debut and Love Everybody. The new songs seemed to go over well with the crowd, especially Zero Friction, which was as catchy a song as the band has ever written, and Shreds of Boa, which got some crowd surfing going. They also proved to be able to slow things down a bit with a song like Munky River, which had a slinking, downbeat feel to it. They never let things waver too much though, making sure to include upbeat songs like Some Postman and the ever popular Naked and Famous and Dune Buggy in the set. And they played Lump early in the set as well, keeping the early momentum up, which can be hard in a show like this. The band brought out their first drummer for Tiki God, and this soon resulted in a three man drum solo that was surprisingly rhythmic and not nearly as chaotic as one might automatically think. The ending salvo started with Mach 5, the only song off of II to get any airplay whatsoever. They then started a medley of covers that included The Ramones' I Wanna Be Sedated. Once they were done playing random songs off the top of their head, they started their cover of Video Killed the Radio Star by The Buggles, to the delight of myself and everyone else in the crowd. They then closed the regular set out with Peaches and their cover of Kick Out the Jams, both of which worked the crowd into a hell of a frenzy. For $15, I have to say the band put on a very good show. It's not hard to see why the group scored success when they did, when radio was full of anthems for disaffected youth, and goofiness was a naughty word not to be uttered. I don't know if I'll give their new album a shot, but I do know that in an industry so obsessed with being "serious" as of late, the Presidents once again aren't a bad band to have around. Shows like Friday night's prove that better than airplay ever could.

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