X, w/ Dead Rock West at Mill City Nights, Minneapolis (29 Aug 2015)

Setlist

Intro: Ennio Morricone’s “A Fistful Of Dollars” Your Phone’s Off the Hook, But You’re Not Sugarlight Beyond and Back Adult Books How I (Learned My Lesson) In This House That I Call Home I’m Coming Over The Hungry Wolf Year 1 Los Angeles The Unheard Music Blue Spark Some Other Time The World’s a Mess, It’s in My Kiss It’s Who You Know Breathless (Jerry Lee Lewis cover) White Girl Nausea Johny Hit and Run Paulene Motel Room in My Bed Soul Kitchen (The Doors cover) — Encore — The New World Because I Do Devil Doll

Tour Dates

Legendary Los Angeles punk band X (not to be confused with Australian band X or Japanese band X or London band The xx) recently made a semi-rare Minneapolis appearance last night at Mill City Nights.

The band (featuring singer Exene Cervenka, bassist/singer John Doe, guitarist Billy Zoom, and drummer D.J. Bonebrake) was previously in town at the Cabooze on 06 October 2011 and prior to that at the now-defunct 400 Bar on 20 December 2008 at the same venue on 22 March 2008 (“13:31 Anniversary Show”). It would seem that the band is out on tour in part as a fundraiser for their guitarist Billy Zoom, who is currently undergoing cancer treatments. The tight-knit fans were more than happy to showcase their donations and support by wearing the Billy Zoom – Nice Guy T-Shirts.

 

Opening up the show was Dead Rock West. The Californian duo (Cindy Wasserman and Frank Lee Drennen) has a close relationship with X, having previously opened up for the LA band and X spinoff band The Knitters and X’s John Doe. Their 45-min set included a few tracks from their latest album It’s Everly Time!, a 13 song tribute to the great Everly Brothers… however, according to Drennen on “Gone Gone Gone”, they didn’t always pick the hits to cover.

As a cover lover, I didn’t mind the Everly Brothers songs (including a great cover of “So Sad (To Watch Good Love Go Bad)”), however I felt Dead Rock West was at their best when they played more aggressive songs like “Rocket from The Crypt” from their 2007 album Honey And Salt.

Highlight of their set was their finale, “This May Be The Last Time” (taken from their previous 2011 album Bright Morning Stars) with their close friend X joining them on stage.

Stepping on the stage to Ennio Morricone’s excellent “A Fistful Of Dollars” song, X felt like they were at home on stage… completely comfortable and ready to go as they launched into “Your Phone’s Off the Hook, But You’re Not”. Honky tonk/rockabilly musician Jesse Dayton stepped in for X for this entire 2015 tour. Dayton did a great job on guitars, and you can tell he was honored to take Billy Zoom’s part in his temporary absent.

 

With nearly 40 years of music under their belt, X had plenty of songs to choose from… so much that their nearly two hours set needed two pages. Despite fitting in 24 songs, singer Exene Cervenka had to apologize for not taking any requests from the fans in front. Instead, Cervenka offered, “We’ve prepared a special menu for you.”

In typical long sets, the band rarely spoke between songs… instead trying to keep on schedule by playing songs one after another, sometime without pausing for even cheers or handclaps.

My personal highlight of their set was “The Hungry Wolf”, the intro track from their 1982 (reissued in 2001) album Under the Big Black Sun. When they play this live, drummer D. J. Bonebrake goes nuts with an extended drum solo.

If you want to help nice guy guitarist Billy Zoom, you definitely need to show up to X’s 2015 tour. The band will be at Wooly’s in Des Moines tonight.