X
Hollywood Park
North Park Stage
Inglewood, CA
July 13th, 2012
"X-35: A Homecoming"
Dedicated to: ianmcd in The Netherlands. Dunno if you caught them @ Ziggo or if this is even your cup of tea. Still,
you may dig some Old School roots punk, my friend.
EX-
Thanks to my hoarde of friends who came along to see the show and to help block and air clap.
Lineage / Equipment:
15' from rail 3' right of center / fob -> 6.5' h -> slavesound omni's -> custom bb - no bass roll-off ->
edirol r09 (44.1/16) -> sandisk 16gb class 4 sd -> reader -> audition 3.0 - slight level boost
(no normalization) -> har-bal 2.3 slight eq (bass attenuate, treble boost) -> cd wave editor (track split)
-> tlh (flac 8, etc...) -> DIME -> you -> sense of enjoyment -> sharing is caring -> support the artist (yes)
-XX convert to mp3 (no!!!).
Taper: mixter_
K.I.L.L. = Keep It LossLess
Setlist:
01. Your Phone's Off The Hook, But You're Not
02. Sex and Dying in High Society
03. Some Other Time
04. White Girl
05. Breathless*
06. In This House That I Call Home
07. The World's A Mess, It's In My Kiss
08. Los Angeles
09. Beyond And Back
10. We're Desperate
11. The Unheard Music
12. The Hungry Wolf
13. Year 1
14. The Once Over Twice
15. The New World
16. Sugarlight
17. True Love
18. Who You Know
19. Nausea
20. Motel Room In My Bed
21. Johnny Hit and Run Paulene
22. Soul Kitchen+
23. Encore Break
24. I'm Coming Over
25. Poor Girl
26. Because I Do
27. Devil Doll
79:59
Compostions by:
* Otis Blackwell
+ John Densmore, Robbie Krieger, Ray Manzarek, Jim Morrison
X Classic:
Exene Cervenka: Vocals
John Doe: Vocals, Bass Guitar
Billy Zoom: Guitar
DJ Bonebrake: Drums
The performance:
Los Angeles' seminal punk band tore through a storming 26 song set in just over 80 minutes to a crowd of over
3000+. The audience was a cross section of old schoolers (yours truly) and younger "Hot Topic" punks. This was
only the third time I had seen the band over 20+ years and the first with original guitarist Billy Zoom. I was
transported back in time to 1981 to the Grand Olympic Auditorium. The band was extremely tight (except for the false
start on "Poor Girl") and looked no worse for the wear after having returned from Copenhagen two days earlier. They
played a dozen or so shows with Pearl Jam in Europe. John exclaims that it's good to be back and to play to a hometown
crowd. The audience was very responsive and got a bit out of control early on. My friends scattered during the melee so
I was left with no blockers. You can hear John and Exene try to break up the moshing and fighting after SADIHS. H-Park
security and the LA County's Sheriff's department arrived on the scene to assist the Event Staff. Because they had no
direct access to the audience (WTF!?), they just decided to monitor the situation instead. I wound up sheltering some
4'10" 98 lb waif that slid in front of me when shit went south early on. My right arm was positioned next to her to help
arm bar the crowd away from her. "She had to get out" before the encore break. No "Thanks!" No "F-You Creep!" She just
bailed. Whatever. No good deed goes unpunished, right? That's OK I wear the bruises as a badge of honour. I apologized
to the big dude in front of her after the show as my fist was firmly planted in the small of his back for over an hour
to prevent him from knocking her down or out.
Oh did I say... the band sounded Fan-Fucking-tastic!?
The whole of debut "Los Angeles" is scattered about this set. For those keeping track...
01,21,22,19,16,08,02,11,07.
The recording:
I lined up in front of John & Exene (stage right) exactly where I was for Devo and JAMC. This does require getting to
venue 3 hours before the show starts to secure my spot but it's usually worth it. I'll let you be the judge though.
Vocals are very clear and at the fore. Billy's guitar sits nicely in the mix and DJ's drumming is perfect. It doesn't
sound like a Neil Peart Clinic ;-). There are a few minor instances of phasing as a few feet flew past me. Audience
cheering is thankfully isolated between songs and to the encore break. The drunken howler monkey from Brendan Perry
shows up during the break. Thankfully, he's not directlt screaming into my mics this time around. Minimal EQ and level
adjusts were made. IMHO this is about as good as a punk bootleg gets for me. Feel free to comment or state your case to
the contrary. Ten seconds of the encore break was parsed in order to make this CD friendly for the old timers like myself.
Glad I didn't have to haul out my Zoomie H-1 (back-up) for this show. Don't want to catch shit for my modest rig on T.S.
Of note...
Phil Alvin from "The Blasters" was in attendance but sadly did not perform with the band.
mixter_ favs "Blue Spark" and "Burning House Of Love" were not played this time around. Maybe next time!
Please support the band:
Buy the excellent reissue of "The Unheard Music" on DVD and Blu-ray.
See a live show.
Buy some cool merch including the Exene postcards. Collect them all!
http://xtheband.com/
Enjoy,
mixter_