Last night at Irving Plaza, Savannah, GA-born band Passafire performed the starting act for Thrilla. I had to go. (Home town in the city! Support!) I’ve been seeing these guys play since the start of college (2003), when they’d pop up in grimy clubs and River Street bars. Always, they were friends, and friends of friends (one of women in my close group of friends back home is engaged to their drummer.) Formed when they were SCADies, the band tours constantly and is doing rather well. Their latest album, Start From Scratch, hit #1 on the iTunes Reggae Chart. They’re rock and reggae, maybe a little more mainstream now. Their sound is jammy, upbeat, equal parts organic and synthesized sound. They’ve been compared to Sublime and 311 (who they’ve toured with).  Check them out.

So much fun. Such good energy. It’s nothing like seeing them at home thought, when you’re packed inside Livewire, a low-ceilinged, all-exposed-brick walled club on the river, where the stage is barely elevated above eye level and you know almost everyone there. In the last year, my friends and I started seeing more and more music in Savannah. We’re hard pressed for a Passafire show, because they’re always on the road.  Seeing them in the city was definitely a new experience, and a good one.