X played Brighton Music Hall – 8/15
Los Angeles punk legends X, reunited with founding guitarist Billy Zoom, set off on their “Re-Zoomed” tour last week and stopped off at Brighton Music Hall for a sold-out show on Monday night.
Earlier this summer, at the urging of a professor in a long-form journalism class I was taking (hi, Jeff), I finally watched the first entry in Penelope Spheeris’ Decline of Western Civilization documentary series. The film chronicles the burgeoning punk rock scene in late 1970s L.A., from a pre-Rollins Black Flag to an imploding-before-your-eyes Germs. All the sweaty aggression one typically associates with early punk is present and accounted for in the film’s gritty performance footage, but among the featured bands that outlived the early days of the scene (or left a lasting impact without making it out alive), it’s X that never quite seem to fit in.
Juxtaposed with Fear’s shirtless macho posturing or the drug-addled chaos of the Germs, X appear to come from a different universe entirely. Co-fronted by vocalists John Doe and Exene Cervenka, the quartet’s rockabilly and country-tinged style sounds that way, too. In 2016, it’s perhaps that sense of eclecticism that leaves X’s defining songs sounding less inextricably tied to their time and place than some of their contemporaries.
Fittingly (though at the evident annoyance of a few audience members), an L.A. country duo called Dead Rock West opened Monday’s show to an already packed house. Brighton is a small room for X, and the 8 p.m. door time found a line stretching up the street and a number of fans desperately seeking extra tickets among it. By the time the posted 10 o’clock set time rolled around, a diverse crowd spanning teenagers to old-school fans was practically rabid.
A 21-song set from X was largely devoid of banter or frills (save for a lighted sign at center stage), but a survey of the group’s celebrated first four LPs satiated the faithful regardless. The chemistry of the band’s original lineup is undeniable, and we ought to consider ourselves lucky to still have that lineup around. Zoom’s second battle with cancer sidelined him from the band last year, but his commitment remains unwavering, and this summer he’s happily back in action. Though he spent much of the show seated, Zoom was otherwise all smiles, and cranked out his signature multifaceted fretwork with astonishing effortlessness. Doe and Cervenka’s intertwining lead vocals – the band’s other defining trait – were also spot-on throughout the night, and every song from the raw Los Angeles rockers to Under the Big Black Sun‘s more pronouncedly roots-influenced tunes sounded just right.
As an X first-timer (I know, I’ve been negligent), I can’t imagine a much more satisfying show from the band. Check out more photos from the night below.
