“Smoke and Fiction” Tour 2024
X, Dead Rock West
Thursday, Sept. 26th 2024
Water Street Music Hall, Rochester, NY
Our Score: 4 out of 5 stars
Legendary Los Angeles punk band X brought their unique blend of musicality to the Flower City on Thursday evening for a nostalgic walk through the bands 40 plus year career. The band which formed in 1977 and is made of up bassist John Doe, Vocalist Exene Cervenka, Guitarist Billy Zoom and Drummer DJ Bonebreak announced in June of this year that their latest album titled “Smoke & Fiction” and its subsequent tour would also serve as the bands farewell. Despite the thought of this being the last time fans would get to see the long standing punk staple perform the mood and energy was high as fans made their way into the historic venue.
Opening up the evening was the acoustic duo “Dead Rock West” which consists of Vocalist Cindy Wasserman and Guitarist/Vocalist Frank Drennon. The duo performed a unique blend of alt rock tinged country western that resonated through out the medium sized venue. The bands set clocked in at just under an hour and featured a variety of songs from the groups 5 studio albums. Though the music’s subtle cadence might not be what you would normally associate with a punk show the duo showcased a very polished and enjoyable sound and performance which earned them an ample response from the growing crowd.
Headliners “X” would take the stage next performing a blistering 23 song set that touched on all aspects of the groups career. The band opened up the evening with “Your Phone’s Off the Hook, But You’re Not” from the 1980 “Los Angeles” album followed by “In This House That I Call Home” which comes from the “Wild Gift” album. As the night progressed Exene and John would take brief moments to address the crowd however, the focus was certainly more centered around the music more than the fact this would be the bands last time in Rochester. As the energy in the room continued to build the band tore through a mixture of long standing live staples such as “Breathless”, “The Hungry Wolf” and “White Girl” while also mixing in newer songs like “Water & Wine”, “Ruby Church” and “Smoke & Fiction”. Though there were a couple points in the evening where songs needed to be stopped and re-started the band played the small hiccups off as if they hadn’t even happened with each prospective member retaking their spots and paying little to no attention at all to what had just happened.
Ekene and company began to bring the night to a close via fan favorites such as “Los Angeles”, “Sugarlight” and their unique version of the Doors classic “Soul Kitchen” fans were left asking for more as the band left the stage while the the rawkus tones of “Nausea” still echoed through Zoom’s lone guitar amp. After a brief pause Doe and Cervenka would return for the first of three encore songs performing an acoustic duet of “See How We Are”. The rest of the band would l=them come back to the stage to perform “Come Back to Me” before ending with the Sax and Xylophone tinged “I Must Not think Bad Thoughts”.
The evening was everything a fan of X could have asked for and possibly a touch more as each of the bands four members (all in their late 60’s and early 70’s) continue to perform at a level higher than other bands half their age. With tour dates running through the end of October fans still have just a few more chance to see one of the last great punk bands from 80’s before they put an end to their impressive career. Get out there and catch one of these shows as you won’t be disappointed!
SETLIST:
1.) Your Phone’s Off the Hook, But You’re Not
2.) In This House That I Call Home
3.) We’re Desperate
4.) I’m Coming Over
5.) Adult Books
6.) Water & Wine
7.) Sweet Til the Bitter End
8.) White Girl
9.) Breathless (Otis Blackwell cover)
10.) Ruby Church
11.) True Love
12.) The Hungry Wolf
13.) Smoke & Fiction
14.) Flipside
15.) The Unheard Music
16.) Los Angeles
17.) Sugarlight
18.) Soul Kitchen (The Doors cover)
19.) Motel Room in My Bed
20.) Nausea
ENCORE:
21.) See How We Are (John and Exene acoustic)
22.) Come Back to Me
23.) I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts