Rating: 4 Skulls
Reviewed by Solomon (11/9/01 Liquid Joe's, Salt Lake City, UT):
Seeing the same band twice on consecutive tours is a rare occurrence in my neck of the woods. Actually, I've had to mount up and drive down to SLC to see King's X on last year's "Mr. Bulbous" tour and the current trek. Hell, five/six hours is no big deal (I've done longer road trips), and you know these guys are worth it. Liquid Joe's is a pretty decent club with decent sound, but it seems almost criminal that a veteran act like King's X is still playing places like this. At least the intimacy is still there. You can stand up front and practically learn to play the songs yourself from watching Doug Pinnick and Ty Tabor play two feet in front of you. Considering U2 was in town that night, I'm glad a sizable crowd had shown up to see the band crank out one great tune after another. Doug's thin frame (get that man a burger!) and dirty, grinding bass tone is a commanding presence, and Ty always cranks out those appropriate, classy guitar solos. The band is always polite with the crowd, and they carry themselves with a confidence that can only come from years upon years of experience.
King's X
Photos by Solomon
The last two opening acts King's X have toured with have been great. Last year, I didn't know who Podunk was, but their own brand of bluesy Texas rock made a believer out of me. Now this time around, Moke (from England) impressed me. I downloaded a couple of tracks from the band's website, "Liar" and "My Degeneration," and I was turned on by their Jimi Hendrix/RATM (picture that!) hard rock stylings. The band cooked live with several Beatles/reggae/whatever-type songs that were original and inspiring, especially with an Egyptian-sounding tune I don't know the name of. The singer was really good, to boot.
King's X
After a short intermission, Doug, Ty, and Jerry mounted the stage and performed a well-rounded set of material pulled from the band's entire catalogue. It was cool to hear some obvious choices mixed with a few surprises. Actually, the set was pretty heavy on stuff from Manic Moonlight and Ear Candy. My review of Manic Moonlight was so-so, and I lost some interest in that part of the set, but I've found that things always sound better live, and "Believe" was proof of that. The band played some of the livlier stuff from Ear Candy, including "The Train," "Run" (didn't expect that), and "Looking For Love." "The World Around Me" and "The Big Picture" was pulled from the self-titled record, although I would have rather heard "Lost in Germany" or the "Ooh Song," which is one of the heaviest songs they've done. Ah, well, maybe next time. There was no "It's Love" or "Out of the Silent Planet" or "Shoes," which would have been nice, but "What Is This?" from the first record was a pleasant surprise and "Flies and Blue Skies" from Dogman threatens to bring a tear to your eye every time. Faith, Hope, Love was never my favorite record, but "We Were Born To Be Loved" is a great closer. Those heavy chords and that quirky rhythm part that gets repeated forever just crushes in a live setting. Of course, "Over My Head" was the obigatory encore, and the band even let the audience sing "Goldilox" in its entirety. I was impressed that many people had all the words down, 'cause I sure didn't. There were a few songs I would've liked to hear make the set, but this Texas trio once again delivered the goods with a solid performance of some of the most original rock music ever produced.
Moke
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