Friday night at the Summit Music Hall, seminal LA punk band X gave a new meaning to the term all ages show.
The audience included little kids wearing noise cancelling headphones, adolescents with their parents, an assortment of Denver rockabilly, punk and goth kids, as well as an array of gray-hairs and no-hairs. The diversity of the crowd was a clear reminder that X — a band nearing its 40th birthday — connects across a wide spectrum of ages and musical tastes.
Friday night s show featured the original lineup of the band: John Doe on bass and vocals, Exene Cervenka on vocals, D.J. Bonebreak on drums, and the excellent guitar flourish and effortless cool of Billy Zoom, who s been fighting cancer for the last year.
After a strong set from Fort Collin s Drag the River, X sounded a little sleepy out of the gate, but midway through their set picked up steam and love from the crowd. Their set included a broad range of songs representing their evolution over the decades: from the rockabilly chugging of The Once Over Twice and the sentimental Dancing With Tears in My Eyes to the punk blast of Nausea and Soul Kitchen.
Though the show had ups and downs in terms of energy, there were still plenty of moments when the harmonies between Doe and Cervenka were just weirdly, perfectly X.
Set list: X at Summit Music Hall, 04/01/16
