X Leaves it All Onstage at Summit Music Hall
September 1, 2024Photos: Billy Thieme
I’m the first to admit – I was a little skeptical about X appearing for their final tour here in Denver. Usually, when bands with which I have a late teens/early twenties relationship turn up on tour, I’m more than a little apprehensive. It’s hard enough looking in the mirror and seeing the difference a few decades make on you yourself. Potentially seeing some of your youthful heroes showing what those years have put on them, along with the wear & tear of the constant road year after year, just seems to put those changes into some kind of “more real” reality. Besides, in my experience, these late-in-life rock ‘n roll return sequel tours tend to suck (and yeah, Oasis, you’re on deck), right? Would X prove me right on that point? I was a little scared to find out.
Fortunately, X proved me wrong. Way wrong. Totally, unequivocally, and completely wrong.
Even though last Friday’s show at the Summit Music Hall was my first time seeing them, it felt to me like I was watching the same band I’d seen years ago on videos, on MTV, and in The Unheard Music, the classic biopic about X and their place in the L.A. punk scene. That night, I could’ve sworn they were the same youthful punk rock icons, all at the same ages. At least that’s how they performed.
X definitely didn’t act their ages onstage.
This was, in fact, the same band performing – all original members: front woman Exene Cervenka, guitar wizard Billy Zoom, drummer D.J. Bonebrake, and bassist/singer John Doe (with whom I was able to hang out with just two weeks ago in Denver – and I count myself incredibly lucky for that). And they may look close to their ages, a little – from 68 (DJ and Exene) to 76 (Zoom – Doe is a keen, centrist 71) – but they definitely didn’t act their ages onstage.
To start the set, Billy Zoom waltzed the band members onstage strumming Link Wray’s universally recognizable anthem “Rumble.” Then, from the moment they opened their set with “Beyond and Back” from 1981’s Wild Gift, it seemed like they’d pulled their twenties selves out from inside themselves and let ‘em take over (I still can’t believe that record is 43 years old!).
I’d always heard they deliver live, and now I know – X isn’t ready to give it up yet.
The show was incredible – high energy, fast, roots-punk-rock at a billion miles an hour, exactly what X introduced to the world back in 1977. I’d always heard they deliver live, and now I know – X isn’t ready to give it up yet. This may be their final tour – as they keep saying – but I don’t believe it, not after Friday night. They’re still playing with the purpose and passion they had way back then.
The band played everything I – or any lifelong fan – wanted to hear, and they played it well. Exene dominated center stage with her unmistakable vocals and her exquisite outfit, topped off with a sweet little zip up jacket covered with arcane icons and backed with the words “Klaatu Barada Nikto” (the mysterious alien mutterings from the infamous film The Day the Earth Stood Still). Her voice hasn’t changed at all in power, range, or her own perfectly pitched harmonies. Cervenka shared vocals with John Doe on classic songs like “Breathless,” “Nausea,” “Your Phone’s Off the Hook, But You’re Not,” and “I’m Comin’ Over,” as pristine and gritty as ever, smirking between lines and dancing in her cowboy boots..
John Doe stood at stage right – well, when he stood, which was rare, actually. Doe thrashed, pounded his feet, stalked, and danced in his boots as he played his signature skillful, powerful bass. He belted out lyrics alongside Exene in his inimitable, powerful, so so beautiful voice. Leading the band on tunes like “Blue Spark,” “White Girl,” and “Hungry Wolf,” he sounded just like he did in the ‘80s – like Elvis meets Chet Baker meets Waylon Jennings – smooth, feisty, and ornery.
While Billy Zoom remained seated for nearly all of their set, he never missed a single note, lick, or twang. He played his huge hollow-bodied guitar as fast, as furious, and as beautifully as he ever did – perfectly – smiling and leering between licks and impossibly fast chord changes.
And of course, D.J. Bonebrake kept everything all together, running the trap set like clockwork. He made his fast and perfect stickwork look like child’s play, watching every other member of the band, and sitting behind the drums as cool as can be. His porkpie hat rarely moved from its perch in his head, despite the furious rate and complexity of the rhythms he was keeping, or the music the band blasted from the stage.
The set hit a peak at the end of their setlist, when they strung together the classics “Johnny Hit and Run Pauline,” “Hotel Room,” and “Soul Kitchen,” while the crowd went wild. The band left the stage for just a few minutes, and then returned and turned the place upside down emotionally with their encore, starting with “See How We Are,” with just John & Exene on the stage. They followed that with the heartbreaker “Come Back to Me,” and closed the night with a fantastic version of “I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts.” For my money, “…bad Thoughts” is one of their best songs, and maybe one of the best songs ever, and this version included Bonebreak on the vibraphones – an instrument he plays at least as well as the drums. The closing left a grateful audience just begging for more.
The Summit Music Hall may have been the perfect venue for X’s final show here in our town – just the right size, with just enough room to dance and body surf in front of these maestros. The crowd was almost completely made up of people in their 50s – or older – but there were plenty of young faces there too, hopefully just beginning on their own exploration of such a kickass band. X played as if they still have something to prove – and maybe they did. If this really is their last tour together, they sure showed us a sweet goodbye. I’ll never forget it, and I bet no one else there will, either.
Jimmy Intveld – Show Opener
Jimmy Intveld, famously the crooning voice behind Johnny Depp’s character in John Waters’ Cry-Baby and a long time friend of, and sit-in, for The Blasters, opened the night for an excited crowd. With a largely acoustic set of roots tunes, masterfully played, Intveld made the Summit feel like a living room show, with a soft but powerful voice complemented by his skillful strumming and picking on a beautiful guitar.
Intveld sang some slow folk songs and faster tunes, taking care to let the crowd in on the stories behind each song – even one that he wrote for Johnny Cash, that Cash said he would like to record (sadly, Johnny died before he got the chance). Later, Jimmy switched to a mandolin, showing his prowess over the eight-stringed instrument, as he warmed up a growing audience with more of his great songwriting.
