Thursday night in Seattle the Triple Door hosted LA punkers X for an acoustic show. Interestingly, they were playing under the name X and not their acoustic alter egos, The Knitters. Whatever the name, X never disappoint whether they’re acoustic or hard punking.
Exene Cervenka can still do her charming little dances while belting out tunes in two-part harmony with bass player John Doe. I’ve always thought their folky harmonies combined with the band’s the band’s very punk sound to be a unique yet pleasing combination.
They opened the show with Hungry Wolf and the illustrious two-part harmony of the aforementioned Exene Cervenka and John Doe rang forth. It was beautiful. Aside from the usual four original members of X (Billy Zoom on guitar and DJ Bonebrake on drums), to fill out the sound, one Michael Fitzpatrick played whatever was needed. This included bongo drums, rhythm guitar and also drums when DJ played xylophone on a couple songs. The versatility of this band knows know boundaries. Exene, dressed in a frumpy dress and cowboy boots has a voice that is an instrument in and of itself.
X played many of their classics and the sound was impeccable. This was most evident when they sang Come Back To Me and Billy played sax. Come Back To Me is an emotional song that Exene wrote for her sister who was killed in a tragic car accident. The audience was breathless.
The highlight had to be Mike McCready (Pearl Jam) coming out and playing rhythm guitar when they performed The New World.
For the finale, the opening duo, Folk Uke, came on stage and joined Exene on harmony for The World’s A Mess (It’s In My Kiss) and we had three part female harmony.
The encore included Blue Spark and Devil Doll, but, alas, not my favorite, Wrecking Ball.
The aforementioned Folk Uke opened the show. Folk Uke, hailing from Austin, Texas, are two women, Amy Nelson and Cathy Guthrie who are the daughters of Willie and Arlo. They provided tight two-party harmony, lots of humor, and a ukelele and acoustic guitar backdrop. Toward the end Exene came and sang with them and they got the audience to sing along to a song called Mother Fucker Got Fucked Up, to which Amy quipped, “It’s just like in church.”
This was a massively fun night of great humor, great music and perfect sound.
The show plays Portland on August second and third. If the shows aren’t sold out (it was standing room only in Seattle), move your tail and go see it.
Photos property of Holly Homan, all rights reserved.
