One of punk’s pioneering bands, X, announced earlier this year that their latest release, Smoke & Fiction, would be their final album, marking the end of their 40-plus-year career. They are concluding this journey with a farewell North American tour. This Sunday, the tour made its final Pacific Northwest stop at Portland’s Aladdin Theater. Fans in attendance were thrilled to see all the original members perform once more, with some mentioning that they had also attended the band’s previous two shows in neighboring Washington state.
X brought singer-songwriter James Intveld along on this tour. Taking center stage with an acoustic guitar, he evoked the sound of classic country western singers like George Jones and Johnny Cash. Speaking of Cash, James shared a story about writing a song on his mandolin and recording a demo to send to him. Cash loved the song and intended to record it, but unfortunately, he passed away before that could happen. Intveld then played the song for us on his mandolin. He also treated the crowd to a cover of ‘Folsom Prison Blues’ at their request before finishing his set.
All four of the original members of X took the stage, still sounding tight performing in front of the sold out, standing room only Aladdin Theater. The band has a sense of coolness to them, with leader singer Exene Cervenka dressed in an X themed jacket and a unique dress featuring the Dogs Playing Poker painting. John Doe sharing the vocal duties in the band, performed fan favorites across the bands expansive collection of song in their 40 plus year catalog.
The band let the songs speak for themselves through out the evening, keeping the chatting to a minimum. Towards the end of the band’s set, John Doe spoke to the crowd, saying “I heard you asking for this one earlier” as the guitarist Billy Zoom broke into opening riff of fan favorite “Nausea” from the bands debut album Los Angeles. The band finished out the evening playing other songs from the iconic album including their punk take on The Door’s song “Soul Kitchen” to close out the main setlist.
With the band wrapping up their long career there are only a few opportunities left for fans to catch the X live. The bands “Smoke & Fiction” tour continues through October wrapping up in South Carolina on October 30th. Full list of upcoming stops can found on the bands website. X‘s final release Smoke & Fiction is now available to stream on all major platforms.
