I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: November 21, 2016] Kings X

A little over a year ago, my friend Sean and I saw King’s X at the Sellersville Theater.  I didn’t know they’d be back again so soon.  I was surprised to see that they were touring the East Coast again and making another stop at the Sellersville Theater.  This time I bought the tickets (and we got row H) to see this great three-piece again.

Sellersville Theater is a small place (although not very conducive to photos).  But the sound is amazing and it feels like the guys are right really close (and they are).

The band had recently posted that they were adding some surprise songs to their set, so while the beginning of the show was similar to last year’s show, there were eight new songs, which was pretty awesome.

As soon as dUg Pinnick starts playing his bass, you know it is King’s X.  His sound is so deep and resonant, without ever being distorted.  It’s awesome.  And then there’s the complex and somewhat dissonant chords of Ty Tabor.  This is all anchored by the frankly tremendous drumming of Jerry Gaskill.

The first four songs were pretty similar to last time, although it felt to me like they were jamming some of the songs longer than usual.  “Groove Machine” and “The World Around Me” seemed to be much longer than I remembered from last time.

I hate to say this, but dUg’s voice sounded a little off.  He was drinking a lot through the set, so I hope he just had a cold.

“Vegetable” is one of the great songs where you get a rocking section with dUg’s big singing and the amazing harmonies from Ty and Jerry all in a short section.

When they started playing “Run,” I knew we were in for some new songs.  It was the first of two songs from the Ear Candy album (which doesn’t get much play live).

The band hasn’t released an album of new material since 2008, but that album XV, was pretty great.  They don’t play much from it, but for this show they played “Pray” which was great to hear.

In addition to his main bass, dUg plays a 12 string bass.  He switched to it and the whole audience went nuts when they started playing “Black Flag” (a song I can’t believe I haven’t heard them play before).  About a verse in though, he had to cancel the song saying that his bass was so out of tune, he couldn’t sing.  (That’s the problem with a 12 string).  He patiently fixed it up and they rocked the song properly.

I’m assuming fans were checking the setlist because before they played “Cigarettes” everyone was shouting about going to get cigarettes. That song was a real surprise for me.

I was super excited that they played “Summerland” one of my favorite songs the band does.  And then to follow that up with an extended jam of “Over My Head was outstanding.  dUg usually talks during the breakdown of this song.  He mentioned how everyone is scared now after the election, but said he wasn’t going to talk about that.  He just encouraged everyone to love each other.  That’s how you get through the hardest times–tell someone you love them every day and acknowledge the humanity of every person you meet.

They ended the set with “We Were Born to Be Loved,” another of my favorite songs of their.  And sure, they play it every time, but it never ceases to amaze me how they can get those beats and changes down perfectly.  And the chords that Ty is playing are just great.  All three guys shine during this song (and make it look so easy).  Although noting that dUg’s voice sounded a little off, I felt like Jerry’ and Ty’s microphones were a too quiet for this song since they take such prominent roles in it.  Their harmonies are great and I would have loved to hear them louder in the mix.

The encore had a few more surprises.  They opened with “Lost in Germany” a delightful surprise.  No encore would be complete without “Dogman.”  And then came the big surprise.  Earlier in the show someone had stood up (and since the theater is very quiet) and said, Doug, play “Goldilox” and Doug looked at him and said, later man, you gotta get through the rest of this before you get to that.  But when it came time to play it in the encore, he said “you guys are too quiet for ‘Goldilox.’  How am I going to get you to sing it if you’re all so quiet.” No idea if that’s why they didn’t lay it, but since I’d heard it last time, I was okay with not getting it.  Especially since instead, they played King, a song I never thought I’d hear.  I happened to bring their debut album with me to get it signed, so I listened to it on the way down, and what a shocker to hear a song from it.

After every show, the band does a meet and greet.  Even though it was late on a work night, I wanted to stay this time.  So when they started the line right by us and Sean and I were something like 10th on line, it boded well.  The guys were super friendly (as I knew they would be) and we got a cool photo with them (and they signed my CD!).  It was all a blur.

It was a fun show and Sean and I agreed that we’d totally come next time they’re in town.