All photos by Sammy Braxton-Haney
Punk rock royalty came to the Guild Theatre in Menlo Park, CA on August 20th when the seminal Los Angeles band, X, took the stage on the second night of two sold-out shows. The audience was in a rapt, anticipatory mood as Billy Zoom strode out on stage to do the customary knob twiddling on his amplifiers. The other members sauntered on and before you knew it, drummer DJ Bonebrake counted off, and away they went with “Your Phone’s Off the Hook, But You’re Not”, the opening salvo from their 47-year-old debut album. It was a case of “don’t blink, or you’ll miss it” as the band, clearly firing on all cylinders, mowed through “In This House That I Call Home”, “We’re Desperate”, “I’m Coming Over”, and “Blue Spark”.
With the audience (many of a certain age) clearly on board, the band introduced a new song, “Sweet Till The Bitter End”, from their recent release, Smoke & Fiction. Bitter End fit right in with the back catalog, almost sounding like a Wild Gift-era outtake. “Ruby Church”, a new barnburner, solidly connected with the crowd and was the perfect setup for “Breathless”, their take on the Jerry Lee Lewis scorcher.
Barely halfway through the set, and already one’s thoughts of “can it get even better” are answered when John Doe rips into “The Hungry Wolf” from their masterpiece of hardboiled punk noire, Under the Big Black Sun. Tonight, Wolf comes across as an ode of independence, honoring those who live by a code of loyalty in a society of banality. “The World’s A Mess (It’s in My Kiss)” sees Exene Cervenka dancing and throwing shapes, and segues perfectly into the slow stuttering pace of “The Unheard Music”. While Ray Manzarek played organ on the original, tonight that space is ably taken up by Zoom with understated guitar figures.
A few more new songs and then it’s time for “Los Angeles”. Their calling card for lo these many years, tonight its bitter tonic is lapped up by the crowd, some of whom pump the air with their fists, maybe to acknowledge that many years ago they would have been stage diving. X finishes strong with the four of a kind of “Johnny Hit and Run Pauline”, “Nausea”, “Motel Room in My Bed” and The Doors’ cover, “Soul Kitchen”. So much energy has been shared between the group and the audience tonight, and when John and Exene come out for an encore and take center stage with just an acoustic guitar, there is an outpouring of emotion, as they guide us through “See How We Are”. It’s hard not to get nostalgic in this moment, with so much history between these two musicians, laying it all bare this night in Menlo Park. If its true that this is their last tour, then tonight the band has left us all with a wild gift.
