Photo Credit: Blaine Schultz
X
As a rule, rock and roll eats its young. And not without good reason. But Friday night at the Riverside Theater, X and the Psychedelic Furs nodded to their rich pasts while keeping one foot in the here and now.
The Los Angeles quartet is a textbook case in resiliency, weathering cancer, divorce and a major label scare among its experiences. The group seemed like old souls when they emerged in 1980, combing the best of Beat poetry smarts and punk rock energy. They reached back to include five songs from their debut album Los Angeles. The set also included material from 2020’s Alphabetland.
Fronted by singer Exene, who bopped like a teenager in a cowboy boots and a sundress, and bassist John Doe, the duo’s idiosyncratic unison vocals were frozen in time on “White Girl” and “Johnny Hit and Run Pauline.” “Come Back to Me” could have been recorded in New Orleans circa 1956, with guitarist Billy Zoom switching to saxophone. “Water and Wine” from the new album cranked with live wire energy.
Zoom took the stage seven minutes before the rest of the group, tweaking his amplifier and preparing it for his trademark blistering rockabilly flourishes. If his splay-legged stance isn’t quite as low as it once was, name another 74-year-old guitarist whose is. He chose to sit on a stool for most of the show, but also got up to play sax, sticking his guitar pick to his forehead for safe keeping. Drummer D.J. Bonebrake, long the glue that holds the band together, was also featured on vibraphone including an extended coda to “I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts.”
Photo Credit: Blaine Schultz
The Psychedelic Furs
The Psychedelic Furs singer Richard Butler animatedly took the stage wearing a black spangled tuxedo jacket, the presumed heir to David Bowie and Bryan Ferry. Touring on their 2022 album Made of Rain, the group opened with the album’s leadoff track “I Wanna Sleep With You” and included a handful of other new tunes.
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Butler’s nonstop gestures and flourishes played into his dramatic vocals. The group’s pre-Goth post-punk sound came to life with “Dumb Waiters,” “President Gas” and the encore, “India.”
With an audience of die-hard fans on their feet all night, the band delivered the hits as well. By the time the “Pretty in Pink” was rerecorded for the movie of the same name, the band had chart success. On this evening they delivered with “The Ghost in You,” “Love My Way,” “Heaven” and “Heartbreak Beat.”
Chicagoan Mars Williams, the band’s saxophonist since 1983, added muscular melody to the familiar material but also plenty to squawks, shrieks and drones borrowed from his day job playing world-class improvisational jazz. His energetic stage presence shifted the spotlight on several occasions. Williams’ good-natured sparring with Butler at the end of the evening almost seemed to be a bit of “move over ‘cause you’re standing in my light.”
