Zion natives Local H are a Midwestern phenomenon.

Although the group has released a half dozen albums, gone platinum and toured the country behind the likes of Stone Temple Pilots, guitarist/bassist/vocalist Scott Lucas and drummer Brian St. Clair are relative unknowns outside of a tri-state area.

After more than a decade together, the group has gone from playing the largest of Chicago’s festivals and clubs to a VFW hall in Sullivan. The appearance may seem somewhat unexplainable with the group just having released the pile-driving “What Ever Happened to P.J. Soles” and remaining one of the best concert draws in Chicago. But for a single night, size didn’t matter as Lucas got up close and personal with some down state brethren.

Playing for more than an hour, the band spanned its entire catalog from the 1996 Polygram hit “As Good as Dead” to “Pack up the Cats,” “Here Comes the Zoo” and the aforementioned “P.J Soles.”

Crowd favorites like the wry and biting “Fritz’s Corner” and the radio-friendly “Bound for the Floor” had most of the tiny crowd singing along in a frenzy. Even newer tunes like “Hey Rita” and the trippy, wah-drenched “Heaven on the Way Down” seemed familiar to the Sullivan crowd.

And while the band may have gotten a little older, Lucas still hasn’t lost his sense of humor as he proclaimed the “P.J. Soles” track “California Songs” the “new Midwest anthem” after screaming the lines “No more California songs… and fuck New York too.”

Lucas even got a few jabs in on his proclaimed nemesis Jim Morrison after mocking the singer and then proclaiming, “I fucking hate the Doors.”

The rest of the set was dominated by Local H’s more raucous material as the band plowed through songs like “All-Right (Oh, Yeah),” “Hands on the Bible” and “High-Fiving Motherfucker” without missing a beat. The show wasn’t perfect, however.

The sound quality of the show wasn’t that great, the set was a little short and even Lucas seemed a bit tired after the band’s encore, but none of these flaws is the point. Playing a VFW hall may sound silly to most fans, but it’s often as close as most fans are going to get to the music they love.

After seeing Local H at venues like the Tweeter Center, The Double Door, The Metro and Alpine Valley, I can safely say the small show in Sullivan was the most intimate setting in which I’ve ever seen the band. And while the venue was tiny, it afforded Lucas the opportunity to talk with the crowd while bumming sips of beers and a cigarette.

The imperfections are what make shows like this so much fun, even if there is only 50 people in the room and you leave with your ears ringing.