X Celebrates Their 40th Anniversary at the Showbox in Seattle

Closing out my 2017, I was excited to once again catch one of my favorite bands from my youth. Hard to believe, but here was X, who in 1977 started playing gigs in Los Angeles clubs like the Masque, Club Lingerie, Madame Wong’s, the Starwood, and Country Club. Hard to believe that 40 years has gone by so quickly.

X has been on tour this past year celebrating their 40th anniversary, and to finish up the year, a visit to Seattle’s Showbox was one of their last stops. What has been amazing about X is their evolution, as start-up punk band and then channeling their country roots cowpunk (before the genre Americana existed) into the Knitters, having their respective solo projects, and then coming “Beyond and Back” to celebrate the music.

Opening the evening, also from Los Angeles, was LP3 and The Tragedy. With the release of their first album Southland Hum, LP3 and The Tragedy are led by a duo of Los Lobos cousins, Louis Perez III and Ruby Rosas.

LP3 and The Tragedy completely blew everyone away with their fierce assault of rockin’ cowpunk, mixing their brand of rootsy Americana and thrashin’ punk rock. Louis Perez III takes charge of the stage with his ripping guitar and Ruby Rosas holds down the bass lines along with Eric Fuller on drums, Carlos Guzman on rhythm guitar and mandolin, and Mike Berault on organ and accordion.

X opened their show with the songs “Beyond and Back,” “Because I Do,” “Sugarlight,” “Some Other Time,” and “Adult Books” from the albums Los Angeles and Wild Gift, respectively. Then the band ripped into their rousing version of Otis Blackwell’s “Breathless” (made famous by Jerry Lee Lewis), which was originally a single for the Richard Gere movie Breathless from 1983.

While the start of the concert consisted of music from the first two albums, the show continued with songs from Under The Big Black Sun, featuring “Dancing With Tears In My Eyes,” “Come Back To Me,” and “The Hungry Wolf,” which had Drummer D.J. Bonebrake move over to his vibraphone and guitarist Billy Zoom blowing some sweet saxophone flourishes.

Over the entire set, Exene sounded great, both in her lead vocals and her harmonies with bassist John Doe. Zoom once again thrilled with his beautiful Gretsch guitar while D.J. Bonebrake bashed away on his drum kit. Last month while I was in Los Angeles I was able to visit the Grammy Museum, where X is being recognized with an exhibit: 40 Years of Punk in Los Angeles.

More photos of X: http://www.peterdervin.com/20171227_x.html

More photos of LP3 and The Tragedy: http://www.peterdervin.com/20171227_lp3_tragedy.html