I can vividly remember the first time I heard X. It was the summer of 1982, right before the start of my freshman year of high school. A music show on TV back in the day debuted their new song “The Hungry Wolf” and I was completely blown away – I’d never seen or heard anything like them in my life.
Back then, pre-interwebz days, it was MUCH harder to find out about bands and in the case of X, hard to find their records in shops, but I became more aware of them thanks to college radio putting them in regular rotation.
Over the next few years their first 3 albums became part of my collection and a big part of the soundtrack of my life. To this day there is nobody in music that sounds like X, they are utterly unique unto themselves. To me, they are an American treasure, wholly underrated, and there will never be another band like them.
That being said, for some reason I’d never had the chance to see them live… Part of that I’m sure is because I was all of 12 years old when their first album came out, but I digress. Anyhow, our chance finally came – an early Christmas present for the Mrs and I, and we were thrilled!
Dead Rock West was the opening act. Never heard them before, which is not all that surprising as their type of music isn’t exactly on my radar or my cup of tea. That being said, they kinda won me over! They are a duo consisting of a female vocalist who also plays tambourine and maracas and a male vocalist/guitarist. Their opening song had me settling in for a yawn-fest, but the 2nd tune snapped me right out of it. What I will say about them is this; they had voices that blended exceptionally well with each other, and the vocal arrangements were very well done. The guitar work, while simple, was solid. The songwriting was good pretty much all around. But to me, this isn’t the kind of music I go to a live show for. It’s the stuff you put on in the background when you have friends over, or that is playing in the corner of your local coffee shop… I can say honestly that I did like them – much to my surprise – but they didn’t exactly get us fired up for the main event.
When X hit the stage, they didn’t waste any time, they just let ‘er rip! Hearing John Doe and Exene harmonize for the first time in the first song brought a huge smile to my face! And finally seeing guitarist Billy Zoom in a live setting was spectacular!! He was one of my favorite guitarists of the 80’s, and let me tell you, he is still a force to be reckoned with!
The band played about an hour and fifteen minute set, covering their entire history, from the first album all the way to a brand new, unreleased song. And they were firing on all cylinders. The set would have been impressive by any band, but when you stop to consider John Doe and Billy Zoom are 70 and 75 years old, respectively?!?! That they were able to still crank out such a high energy show at this stage of their lives, gives credence to the power of music!
All in all, it was an outstanding show and frankly I’m still a bit flabbergasted by what we witnessed! My only “gripe” is they didn’t play “The Hungry Wolf”, which is STILL my favorite song by them. But hey, they played a great many other legendary songs and put on an excellent show. The Mrs. and I left grinning ear to ear and just ecstatic over the show. I don’t know if we’ll every get the chance to see them again, but I am truly grateful for catching them this time around. If you’re a fan and you get the chance, go see them, you won’t be disappointed!!!
And since I didn’t get to hear it last night, I’m going to post up my all time favorite song from these guys, enjoy!
Thanks for stopping by!
The Boring Old Man 