THE EFFIGIES hadn’t played an East Coast show in over 20 years until this show, as well as a few others in Brooklyn and Washington, DC. Although I was disappointed that the tour didn’t stop here in Philadelphia, I decided to make the drive to Hoboken so I could experience the rush of an Effigies show. And what a rush it was. Concentrating mostly on their more well-known material from the Touch and Go compilation Remains Nonviewable and their reunion album (last year’s typically great Reside, which I called the punk reunion album of the year), they were simply terrific. Highlights? How about the whole damn set! In particular, though, it was great hearing early ‘80s punk rock classics like “Body Bag,” the super fast “Strongbox” and THE RUTS-like “Security”. “We’re Da Machine” and “Mob Clash” were superb as well. Although some fans inevitably complained (with some justification) about the lack of songs from their 3 Enigma albums (in particular, the last 2, Fly on a Wire and Ink, which have been virtually disowned by the band and which I’ve only heard recently; therefore I’m not as familiar with that material), from my perspective it was a great show. Furthermore, singer JOHN KEZDY (a very nice fellow, by the way) seemed frustrated that from his perspective, the set didn’t sound quite right. And again, from my perspective, I thought they sounded great! They indicated after the show that they may be back soon. I sure hope so, as I don’t want to have to wait another 20 years to see them again!
Openers EDP played a great, raucous set of late ‘70s influenced mod/pop-punk. I’d only seen them play once before, at a party for this magazine back in December 2002, and they were as good, if not better, as I remembered them being back then. DAVE BAROKAS of LAST BURNING EMBERS (which also features our own JACK RABID on drums) was particularly great on bass, as his melodic, late ‘70s punk influenced lines were particularly evident on the band’s cover of THE JAM’s immortal “Down in the Tube Station at Midnight”. All in all, it was great hearing his bass playing followed up by The Effigies’ bassist PAUL ZAMOST playing dub-influenced, post-punk lines (another one of my favorite styles of bass playing) so well!
Regrettably, I missed FALSE PROPHETS’ set, but hopefully I’ll catch them at some point. It should be noted that they played a show at Tompkins Square Park the next day along with other ‘80s New York punk stalwarts like the reunited REAGAN YOUTH, the reunited A.P.P.L.E. and others.
The above photo was taken by RANDAL HAECKER at their show the previous evening at Southpaw. It is used with permission. You can see more of Randy’s photos here.
