Pat Mcdonald is as awesome as ever.

Last Thursday I caught a show at The Eagle that was completely brilliant, the kind of rock show where the first song burned like a red hot brand, marking indelibly the proof that this was the real deal, the very essence and spirit of rock and roll that makes it all worth it. It’s the quality that enveloped you in a world you understood with a passion you yearned for when little else made sense besides your headphones and shutting your bedroom door tight away from your parents. Away from all the teen pressures and trauma that might have produced a tragic high school killing spree had you not learned from your cheap stereo that there was a world of music out there for you—cathartic, unnerving and alive with meaning. Like a clue that there was indeed a future worth living for, music would be a salvation soundtrack as loud in decibels as I chose and as large a part of my life as I could make it. Seeing solo performer Pat Macdonald play his set at the Eagle last week reminded me of those early moments of discovery, when I realized rock and roll could indeed stir a certain passion in me, prompt me to travel great distances for a show, stay in my room with one record and a tab of LSD and travel countless miles of concept, feel the rush and drive of a song and know that rock music would chart the course of my life more than slightly. His riveting set was everything rock and roll should be, as life-affirming and magical and real as any number of rock luminaries that shaped my own personal fanaticism from age 11 forward.

Many of you might not know who Pat Macdonald is right away. Back in the ‘80s he formed a male female duo with his wife Barbara called Timbuk3 and they recorded a worldwide top ten hit song “The Future’s so bright I gotta wear Shades.” Their marriage and the band eventually dissolved and Pat launched his solo career in 1998 with the release of Pat Macdonald sleeps with his guitar which was very well received and critically acclaimed in Germany, and led to many tours throughout Europe. After that he released the LP Begging for Her Graces marking a creative collaboration with producer John Parrish that would see another LP Degrees of Gone as well.

In his live sets Pat began to perform one or two Depeche Mode songs with his electrified acoustic guitar and there was such an overwhelming response from audiences liking his pared down simplified interpretations of Martin Gores’ synth pop hits they decided to record a whole LP of all Depeche Mode songs entitled Strange Love. It’s a fantastic record that made me completely appreciate these songs for the first time, making them feel less mechanized and cold and emotionally detached. The record was again more well received by European audiences but eventually got some well-deserved attention and reviews here in the states.

Pat Macdonald now resides in L.A. and has played the Eagle once before, but this show came up rather suddenly when another band cancelled and Pat filled the bill. He quietly set up the stage, just a chair, a guitar, a flat piece of wood he kept time with using his shoe, and one of those metal things that holds a harmonica close to his mouth. A well placed pink spotlight pointing upwards from the floor in front of him completed the stage.

As soon as he started to play the crowd was completely transfixed. The song sounded vaguely familiar but I wasn’t certain until he reached the chorus that it was PJ Harvey’s “Working for the Man” and then the audience erupted in cheers, not because they recognized the song, but more in that spontaneous way that people do when a blues vocalist hits that unhinged note in the chorus or a great guitar solo plays to its end, a natural release of shouts of approval, whistles and some scattered applause. This was the first of many such responses throughout the set, often hard to discern which element prompted the exaltation as every sound was dead on perfect and powerful, placed with precision and soulfulness.

Pat Macdonald’s voice has a definite purity and a fullness and just when you start to think you’ve heard the extent of his range he’ll suddenly take it up a few octaves to a higher raspier place for a final refrain or supply a sort of counter vocal presence, and you begin to hear that he has several voices, the most prominent one bearing a distinct Texas twang and more than a hint of a Hank Williams-like lilt and yodel that fits both country/western as well as the blues comfortably. His voice is always smooth and warm, skillful and human.

As he continued his amazing set of choice Depeche Mode songs as well as some incredible originals and a great and almost forgotten Joe Strummer song “Love Kills” from the soundtrack of the film Sid and Nancy, I was continually astonished by the fullness of the sound being created by just one man on stage. He somehow embodied every dynamic of a full band all by himself, the beat of his shoe on the wood, his amazing guitar playing and equally intense harmonica and his incredible voice serving up such soulful intimate renditions as well as filling in certain elements of the overall sound like counter rhythms, kind of like that extra thump on the guitar body punctuating an endnote.

It all came together with such an uncanny ease it was like witnessing a rare skill shared only by a finite number of individuals worldwide. For his version of “Personal Jesus” Pat’s stunningly beautiful girlfriend joined him onstage and morphed the song into a sound-alike blues standard for a very impressive and sexy delivery of a few verses before it returned to its close. That was extra fun and hot. Pat also pointed out that his son was in the audience with his own wife and suggested buying him a drink, saying he needs to live it up more. I suddenly thought, “Oh my god, how totally cool would it be to have Pat Macdonald as your dad!”

The only thing wrong with this show was the fact that more people should have been there to enjoy it and someone managed to walk off with a box of all Pat’s CD’s which he brought to sell. Doesn’t that totally suck. So I thought I should point out that you can easily order all his CDs from  and you really should. He seems to think the Eagle is the best place in the world to play so I bet he returns sometime. When he does you really must see him.