Artist Tours

Show Review: Presidents of the United States at WSU

The Presidents of the United States played a show at the esteemed Washington State University on Tuesday, Jan. 27, a decision that was somewhat of a risk. The band’s first album was released in 1995, and this year’s college freshmen were born in 1992. There was a strong chance that much of the audience would only recognize their singles such as “Peaches” and “Lump”, and remain lukewarm for the rest of the performance.

Luckily there were plenty of fans born in the eighties, for who PUSA was something of a milestone.  The Presidents, along with others like Weezer, Eve 6 and Blink-182 were the quintessential 90’s bands that young music lovers broke their teeth on.

The concert took place in the Washington State University CUB Ballroom, which had the capacity to hold 800 people packed like sardines. The crowd was about 400 strong as the band took the stage, and they looked like they were ready for a show (despite the overabundance of tight pants).

The band took the stage with much more energy than they had to. Front man Chris Ballew was wearing a simple pair of black shorts and plain yellow t-shirt, an outfit that screamed the 90’s.  PUSA kicked the show off with “Love Everybody”, and the crowd actually fed off of the band’s energy instead of the other way around. Ballew jumped, skipped, and coordinated dance moves with guitarist Andrew McKeag while never missing a note.

The guys didn’t seem to resent their hit singles like many bands come to.  They rocked through “Peaches”, “Lump” and “Dune Buggy” with the same gusto as their more obscure stuff. The Presidents played 19 fast paced high energy songs, and the crowd was definitely satisfied.

The encore kicked off with a cover of “Video Killed the Radio Star” and was longer than the obligatory two song bullshit some bands try to pull. In closing, the concert was great. It felt like the band enjoyed being where they were and what they were doing. They act too good for the venue or the smallish crowd. They were what 90’s pop rock was always about -- fun.

 

Photo Courtesy: Andika Mulia

 

Photo Courtesy: Last.fm

Main Photo Courtesy: ClashMusic

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