X – at House of Blues – Anaheim, CA

Christmas season is usually the time of year that is full of nostalgia, gift-giving, ornaments, and God awful Christmas music on repeat at nearly every department store and mall. If there's ONE cool thing about Christmas however, it's that X bestows upon Punks "Xmas with X" shows that bring us cheer, joy, and Punk rock fun through their timeless music and presence. On Friday, X performed at the House of Blues in Anaheim and made the night all about the band. A documentary regarding the band's history prepped the audience right before X's highly anticipated appearance on stage.

The night at House of Blues began around 8:30 p.m. with a Punk documentary called "The Unheard Music". The documentary that was screened contained lots of goodies by the band, including a few of the band's practice sessions, interviews, shots of live shows, and more. The film was shown for about an hour, and around 9:30 p.m., X finally arrived on stage and began their hour and a half long set.

X opened up with "Your Phone's Off The Hook (But You're Not)" and immediately imposed life and meaning onto their loyal fans at the show. The show was completely sold out, and it was easy to see that the venue was indeed overflowing with people of all ages. The majority of the people in the audience were older and appeared middle aged, but the crowd belonging to this same demographic was just as energetic as the younger kids in the audience. Both young and old rejoiced in the fact that the members of X were standing right before them, playing the music that they had grown up with and grown to love.

The band performed every song off "Los Angeles", however, the band performed every song off the vinyl version, not the CD version. Other songs the band performed consisted of "Breathless", "Year One", "We're Desperate", "The Once Over Twice", "The Hungry Wolf", "Adult Books", "Beyond and Back", and "Blue Spark". During the band's performance, vocalist Exene Cervenka sang in such a manner that audience members were floored by her voice and pitch. Even when Cervenka was simply providing back up vocals to bassist John Doe's melodic voice, Cervenka's vocals were able to genuinely capture the mood and setting of each X song performed that night.

After an hour of the band's enigmatic music, the members of X thanked the audience and walked off the stage for a few moments. The audience began to chant, scream, and push each other, all in an attempt to rush the band and acquire an encore. A short while later, the band walked back onto the stage and performed an acoustic set of "See How We Are", which the crowd demonstrated appreciation towards by waving their arms in the air and lighting up their lighters. After the somber song was over, the band performed a 20 minute encore that consisted of songs such as "Because I do" and "Motel Room In My Bed". Once the band finished their encore, the curtains drew to a close and the lights illuminated the venue again. X had finally ended the night, and ended our "Xmas with X" experience.

X was able to once again provide Punk aficionados an event worthy of the sometimes intolerable Christmas season and atmosphere. The Xmas show at House of Blues upheld Christmas joy in the fashion of X's classic and great music. Truly, if there's one thing Punks look forward to every December besides second-hand presents under the Christmas tree, it's Xmas with X, and nothing else compares.

-Stephanie M.-
Big Wheel Senior Staff Reporter

 

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