Live Review: X at Variety Playhouse, June 13

By Scott Roberts; photos By Sue Volkert

Any trepidation I had about seeing a legendary L.A. punk rock band whose members are in their mid-50s (at least!) playing 30-year-old songs was joyfully and powerfully obliterated approximately 10 seconds into the opening song of their set at Variety Playhouse on Saturday, June 13. All four original members — vocalist Exene, bassist/vocalist John Doe, guitarist Billy Zoom, and drummer D.J. Bonebrake — looked and sounded phenomenal and the set continued with a remarkable energy and breathless pace, so much so that many of X’s signature breakneck-speed songs from their albums were played even faster on stage.

Their tour’s set list, dubbed the “TRL (Total Request Live) Tour,” consists entirely of songs selected by fans voting online for their favorites, thus crowd pleasers such as “Hungry Wolf,” “Burning House of Love” and “The New World” were all greeted with thunderous appreciation by the nearly full theatre.

Few elements found in rock music can honestly be considered truly unique, but the blending of John Doe and Exene’s voices is certainly one of those rarities. Their harmonies, always original and often teetering on the brink of atonality, are at the center of X’s sound, basically an amphetamine-fueled, punk rock take on 1950s rockabilly, and the two have not lost a step (this fact made extra remarkable considering Exene was recently diagnosed with multiple sclerosis). In fact, if anything, their familiarity with each other has made their vocal entangling even more intriguing as the years have passed. They still sing with the same vibrant passion that has been the hallmark of X’s sound for more than three decades.

After what seemed like 20 songs in just over an hour, John and Exene came back alone to do an acoustic version of “I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts” before bringing Zoom and Bonebrake back to do another handful of X faves. Overall, the set was a glorious success and an example of a band, despite age or illness, putting their love of the music they’re playing above all else.