X/Jon Spencer @ Town Hall, New York, NY 10/3/24

 

Bill: X/Jon Spencer

Venue: Town Hall, New York, NY

Date: 10/3/24

Ticket: $75 for 5th Row on Stubhub

9:20PM X

Active: 1977 (Los Angeles, CA)

Latest Release: Smoke and Fiction (Fat Possum, 2024)

Bandcamp Facebook Instagram Discogs AllMusic Setlist Wiki YouTube

8:15pm Jon Spencer

Active: 1985 (New York, NY)

Affiliations: Boss Hog, Five Dollar Priest, Gibson Bros, Heavy Trash, Jon Spencer & The Hitmakers, Pussy Galore (2), Shithaus, Spencer Dickinson, The Honeymoon Killers (2), The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion

Latest Release: Sick of Being Sick! (Bronze Rat/Shove, 2024)

Bandcamp Facebook Instagram Discogs AllMusic Setlist Wiki YouTube

I had a last minute arrangement to see X with my friend Danny who got a single ticket in the 6th row.  Lo and behold the 3 $95 dollar tickets that were sitting unsold a row directly in front of him dropped 20 bucks after the pair went, so I bought it 3 hours before door opened instead of spending half that in the balcony.  They probably didn't drop radically below 45 since it looks pretty full once showtime hit.

The first time I saw X in NYC was in 2005.  At the time it was a big deal-it had been rumored that Billy Zoom didn't want to play in the city for reasons unknown.  In reality, they had played a few times in the 90's but I didn't go for whatever reason.  It had been only 7 years at that time.  Anyway, it was the first time for me and I was pretty psyched to see Billy Zoom standing in a far corner in a black leather jacket like the guitar God he is.  This time around he has to do the show sitting down in a comfortable shirt.  Time has caught up even though it is only 19 years after that first time for me.  All 4 original members are still alive and playing 47 years on what was supposed to be their retirement tour for what is supposed to be their final album, Smoke & Fiction.  I don't know if this is actually the case or if John Doe said "see you next time" at the end of the show out of habit, but I suspect as long as X is alive and kicking, they will play their 50th anniversary.

It seemed like Exene was serious when "Sweet Till The Bitter End" was announced as the only new song they were going to play but they also did the new video "Ruby Church" as well as "Flipside" and the title track from Smoke and Fiction.  They also did "Water and Wine" from the last one, Alphabetland.  That makes 5 out of 23 material from this decade, not bad for a "retirement" tour.

As for Jon Spencer, he's the "young guy" that started less than a decade after X when "Punk Rock" was more compressed time-wise and generations happened every 4 years.  They still do, but it is so far from the start it starts to meld.  Think about it: the start of Jon's first bands of note, Pussy Galore came out 8 years after X started.  The last X album before this one was 4 years ago and that still seems like a "new album."  I first got to see Spencer in  Pussy Galore toward their end in 1989 around the release of Dial 'M' For Motherfucker at a short lived music venue in Cambridge, MA called The Club.  

I first witnessed this new backing band with Jon opening for Gogol Bordello during their run of end of the year dates.  His new bass player Kendall Wind is phenomenal.   She came up in a band with the drummer Mackey Bowman called the Bobby Lees that ended up on Ipecac Records with a Jon Spencer production under their belt.  Their pro chops show.  It was only a couple years ago that Jon had the HitMakers as a "new" band with stalwarts like Bob Bert drumming, which of course is a different sort of greatness. The kids are helping Jon go through his whole career, yet seem like a new take on the template set by the Blues Explosion over 30 years ago.