Monday, November 25, 2013

What I learned at the King's X show last Saturday night

Rock and roll as an art form is alive and well in 2013, at least at the street level in the clubs.  Saw some AMAZING musicians this weekend.

First up, Deep Sky ~ local (Charlotte) power trio.  Great rockin' tunes, great musicianship/performances, but most importantly, fantastic spirit & energy on the stage

Didn't get into the next act, Blanco Diablo, too much, but they could obviously play & loved the rock & roll, too.

Third (and final) opener was Kings of Spade, all the way from Hawaii, and they were phenomenal!  Can't say enough good things about these cats:  every single band member was top notch, their songwriting is excellent, their stage delivery intoxicatingly exciting, and their deep love of what they're doing was contagious.  These folks are definitely going places, so look to hear more from them!

Finally, King's X took the stage, to the thunderous applause they richly deserve.  Jerry got a special ovation, this being his first tour since recovering from a heart attack and the loss of his home due to Hurricane Sandy.

Set list was really interesting.  dUg said out the outset, “Look, we’ve got fifteen albums.  You’re not gonna hear everything you want to hear, but we promise that we’ll put everything we’ve got into every one that we play for you.”  He was right.  More on that in a moment.  It was really cool to hear some less-familiar tunes (“Flies and Blue Skies” from _Dogman_, for example, and “Vegetable” from _Manic Moonlight_).  Also cool to hear them do a full electric version of “Thinkin’ and Wonderin’ (What I’m Gonna Do)” from _Ear Candy_.

All three of them looked like they were having an absolute blast playing for the crowd.  Ty, especially, really came out of his shell and was laughing and hot-dogging for the audience—great to see!

In fact, it was one of their typically amazing shows … until dUg started holding his side and showing obvious signs of distress.  We found out later that he had to skip the after-show meet & greet because he was rushed to the hospital.  He’s going to need another operation to deal with the hernia for which he already had surgery not long ago. 

But on stage, he was an Olympic athlete, doing everything his body would allow in order to finish the show.  They even came out and played a brief encore, despite his being in obvious pain.  For the encore, at least, he allowed himself to be convinced by the crowd & stage crew to sit down on a stool that Ty dragged onstage from the wings.  For their last tune, they played “Goldilox,” even though it wasn’t on the set list, because—as dUg said—he could play it, but we (the audience) would have to sing it.

And that was a spiritual experience, y’all.  If you want to know what love sounds like, that was it.  You should’ve been there.  And it’s why this band *should* be the biggest name in rock music today.  Unbelievable.

So, rock and roll is alive and well, though we are praying for dUg and hoping he gets the medical care (and financial support) he needs and deserves.  Get out and support live music, y’all—this is an art form we owe it to our children to preserve.

Also, two other things I learned that night:  one, I need to learn how to write riffs, not just songs; and two, I wear my guitar way too high to be as cool as the awesome guitarists I saw that night, who slung ’em low and rocked ’em hard. 

No comments:

Post a Comment