Skyy Pales Before the E.U. Groove Machine

Skyy fair, E.U. shining. Having toughened up their sound, added some contemporary touches and garnered a pair of recent R&B; hits (“Start of a Romance” and the ballad “Real Love”) in the process, Brooklyn-based octet Skyy headlined the Wiltern Theatre on Saturday in slick, corny, ultimately journeyman-like fashion. Other than 1981’s audaciously saucy “Call Me”--still their best jam--Skyy’s highlight came when the three singing sisters reapplied their Press-On nails after the segment spotlighting their guitar prowess. “Girls, don’t try this at home!”

But most anything might have paled before the preceding, too-brief (30 minute), smokin’ set from the eight-man killing groove machine known as E.U. Aside from stopping the backbeat for too-long “lemme hear you say yeah!” routines, D.C.’s gonzo go-go gurus hit nothin’ but highlights: the “Shake Your Thing” Isleys remake/ remodel segued into the Tom Tom Club’s “Genius of Love” (say wha?); the o-b-v-i-o-u-s double-entendre ballad; the ’89 hit “Buck Wild” and, of course, their five-star funkasaurus erectus “Da Butt.” Sex-ay, sex-ay, sex-ay.