Date: Friday, August 22, 2014
Venue: City Winery (NY)

Concert Review by Joe Yanosik

Photo by Joe Yanosik

It was a packed house on the evening of August 22 at the City Winery for the second night of legendary L.A. punk band X‘s 4-night run at the Soho establishment. Young punks, old fans and foodies all came together for wine, dinner and song. I arrived around 7:00 pm in time to have an excellent burger and a glass of Cabernet while the venue played Elvis and Carl Perkins music before the band came on stage promptly at 8:00 pm, looking very similar to how they looked (can it be) 30 years ago, with the only major differences being singer Exene Cervenka‘s added pounds and guitarist Billy Zoom‘s reading glasses (so he can see the frets on his guitar I’d imagine). But drummer DJ Bonebrake and singer-bassist John Doe looked almost indistinguishable from their heyday in the early 80s when their unique west coast hippie punk band enthralled fans and critics alike with one great album after another: their four-album run from 1980’s Los Angeles and 1981’s Wild Gift (both produced by ex-Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek) to 1982’s Under the Big Black Sun and 1983’s More Fun in the New World ranks up there with the other great punk album runs from the Ramones, the Clash and Sleater-Kinney.

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