Okay, I finally saw X last night

[swag]

Such a slamming show. Crystal Ballroom was packed. All ages was quite an understatement - some guy who looked to be about 20 years older than I am was at the front of the stage in a very active pit of shovers, slam dancers, (comically) pogoers, and other miscreants. Lots of parents had brought their kids to see these legends, like parents bring their kids to see Dylan. I'd say the kids definitely got a better deal out of seeing X last night - the band played most everything you'd want to hear - "Beyond and Back," "Johnny Hit & Run Pauline," "Los Angeles," "White Girl," "Blue Spark," etc.

Aitch and I were about 30 feet from the stage on the Billy Zoom side of things - amazing player and massive goof, that guy. So funny. John, Exene, and DJ did everything they could to compete with him.

On a side note, if the Skybombers are the opening band when X comes to your town, do what you can to avoid them. They're four very cute boys from Melbourne, Australia who have put together one profoundly shitty ersatz Rock 'n' Roll band. The only almost passable thing they did was an Easybeats cover. I couldn't believe they were allowed on a stage anywhere. Awful stuff.

Last night's other opening band was the Portland band Kleveland. I met the bassist the other day, and he's a great guy, very talented fellow who was and is involved in a lot of terrific musical projects, but Kleveland isn't one of those. Kleveland kind of reminds me of that band Crucial Taunt from one of the Wayne's World movies. Hot chick up front singing passionate, loud, really bad pop. Only Crucial Taunt somehow did it better, more authentically.

Other notes: short girls kept touching my shirt. My friend's boyfriend predicably got extremely drunk and unpredictably (for him) yelled some awful shit at her, leaving her in tears for most of the show. Hope she's feeling better this morning.

Dates for X coming to your town:

March 30
Showbox
Seattle WA

March 31
Showbox
Seattle WA

April 9
Belly-Up
Solana Beach CA

April 10
The Musicbox @ Henry Fonda Theatre
Los Angeles CA
w/ SKYBOMBERS

April 11
The Musicbox @ Henry Fonda Theatre
Los Angeles CA
w/ THE HEAD CAT

April 12
House Of Blues
Las Vegas NV

May 15
Majestic Theatre
Detroit MI

May 16
Bogart's
Cincinnati OH

May 17
House Of Blues
Cleveland OH

May 18
Newport Music Hall
Columbus OH

May 20
Paradise Rock Club
Boston MA

May 21
9:30 Club
Washington DC


May 23
Rex Theatre
Pittsburgh PA

May 24
The Fillmore New York @ Irving Plaza
NYC NY

May 27
Cat's Cradle
Carrboro NC

May 28
Orange Peel
Asheville NC

May 29
Variety Playhouse
Atlanta GA

May 30
Beta Bar
Tallahassee FL

May 31
House Of Blues
New Orleans LA

June 2
La Zona Rosa
Austin TX

June 3
Warehouse Live
Houston TX

June 6
Santa Fe Brewing Company
Santa Fe NM

June 7
Rialto Theatre
Tucson AZ

More dates TBA

[lifesbeautifulmagic]

1. I going Monday night at the Showbox!!!

I am so excited....Glad to hear it was a good show.

Does Billy still have that big goofy smile?

[swag]

2. Big goofy smile is there. Lots of comical and lewd expressions.

Don't miss a minute of X!

[jonnyblitz]

3. did they play Nausea?

If I were to play X these days I would play their 2nd cd (back then it was probably cassette),Wild Gift. I never listened to them much after "Under the Big Black Sun". I always play their first two and that is it. I should check the others out, I suppose.
(they were so young back then in this video,as was I, sigh)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=QYTbIOIXiyU

[swag]

4. Here's where I have to confess that I missed a minute of X.

We left after the second encore "Blue Spark" because of my friend-in-tears thing, so it's quite possible that they played "Nausea" and "Back 2 the Base," though I didn't hear them.

Funny you posted that clip, because I've watched it about 30 times this week.

[jonnyblitz]

5. i used to have the whole movie the clip is from on my hard drive

but i deleted it.

I often miss the end of shows to beat the crowd unless it is a band i seriously love LOTS.

[swag]

6. I've got that movie on Betamax.

Love the Kickboy Face interviews and Catholic Discipline.

Never saw the metal sequel.

[jonnyblitz]

8. the metal sequel used to play on IFC and I used to catch

bits and pieces of it but it didn't interest me. I wasn't into metal in the 80's much though I did see AC/DC when I was stationed in Virginia in the navy and enjoyed it. there is also a "Decline of Western Civilization III" that was done in 1998. it's supposed to deal with punk 20 years later. I haven't seen this one yet. I haven't had any luck finding it on torrent sites online.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0138393/
http://www.declinemovies.com/

[abq e streeter]

7. Wow, I had no idea they were back together

Never seen X , but saw Auntie Christ, with Exene and DJ, in Albuquerque, and saw John Doe saunter onto the stage in Chicago to join Dave Alvin and Los Lobos to sing ( if my often faulty memory is correct) Your Cheatin' Heart. And they're going to be in Santa Fe in June. Damn; I'll be out of town then . Oh well, looks like I'm destined to never see'em. Glad I got to see those other shows I mentioned at least. Auntie Christ was really good too, even if Exene did spend a little too much time reminding everyone that she's the queen of punk. On the other hand, she is. As Dizzy Dean used to say " it ain't braggin' if you kin do it."

[swag]

9. Those are good show reports.

Unless somebody dies, you'll probably have another shot at seeing X. They toured in 2004, if I rightly remember. Billy Zoom said he did it to get more money to upgrade his amplifier repair shop and to produce more records for his Christian record label. He either is a very weird guy or has developed an impressively weird persona.

[Tikki]

10. Both......

Yet, he's such a grand guitarist.
X is my favorite music.


Tikki

[tigereye]

16. patti smith is the queen of punk

guess exene didn't get the memo... :P

[ghostsofgiants]

11. Sounds like a kickass show.

Shows like that never come around here. We only get locals mostly, or east coast Canadian bands, or really big acts that know they would draw a huge crowd (like Dylan next month).

[swag]

13. Come down south some time.

Oh, and Graywarrior might disagree, but I would strongly advise against spending any money to see a Bob Dylan Show. I've seen him four times now, and the last two times were total crap shows. He destroys his old songs.

Go only if you want to be able to say you saw that guy in the flesh. Or something.

[tigereye]

17. glad I saw him back in the 70s -

the dylan got religion" period.

great show, even from peanut heaven.

[ghostsofgiants]

18. Yeah I'm not going.

I never go to the big shows when they come here. Bunch of my friends are stoked about it though. I'm just not that into the acts that come around here. At least not enough to warrant spending lots of money to see them, haha.

[asthmaticeog]

12. "Kleveland?"

Kick that talented, great guy really hard in the yarbles for me, would you?

[swag]

14. I'll just crotch-kick the singer for you

since she came up with the name.

[asthmaticeog]

20. That'll do, thank you very much.

Extra points if you say "HELLO KLEVELAND!" while you do it, of course.

[tigereye]

15. it's been 20 plus (I think) years since I saw em

maybe I should see em again when they are here in May. Regular line-up, I see. Cool.




(as for the offspring, he would spend the whole time holding his ears...) They were wildly loud back in the day, and I bet that hasn't changed.

[swag]

24. They weren't as loud as some bands I've heard. Sound was great, in fact.

I took out my industrial earplugs after the warm-up acts finished. Glad I did. No ear-ringing today (though that's probably because the damage was done long ago).

[enigmatic]

19. Billy's the Christopher Walken of punk/new wave

and the 2 times I saw X were incredible; thanks for the review!

[swag]

23. "Christopher Walken of punk." Well said.

[bettyellen]

21. omigosh that sounds good.

no pics?
i am going to send you one of some friends from town.

[swag]

22. I didn't take a camera because I just really wanted to enjoy the show.

Everybody else took their cameras though. A derby pal who was getting smashed right into the stage said her daughter got several good shots, and she'll upload those soon.

This is all I can find on flickr so far from last night, though it doesn't show the splendor of the Crystal Ballroom:



Email me those pics of the pals! And tell Caindy and Pea that we miss them more than they miss us!