King`s X
19 September 2003
Mean Fiddler, London

I have to confess that earlier in the day I had enjoyed an extended liquid lunch and having made the obligatory pre-gig visit to Garlic & Shots it was in a "merry" state that I arrived at the venue, so please excuse any set order inaccuracies.

The first surprise on arriving was that King`s X were already on stage playing opener Groove Machine. Rushing down the stairs into the packed venue it was pleasing to discover the Mean Fiddler have got rid of the seating booths along the walls, which greatly improves the venue layout, making it easier to gain a good vantage point.

The venue was packed with a highly receptive, but very static audience. Whether it`s the Inside Out prog connections or the audience getting a bit older, it wasn`t until the encore that any slight bouncing up and down wasn`t frowned upon. Having said that the between song response was hugely appreciative.

The sound was very loud and very heavy, in fact far too bass heavy for the first six or seven numbers, though this balanced out as the set progressed.

A trio of songs from new album Black Like Sunday featured early. This album of old songs has really grown on me, with the relative simple nature of the songs working well live. The harmonies on Finished are particularly sweet and the extended jam at the end of Johnny allows each musician to show off their skills without ever being over indulgent.

Doug Pinnick looks remarkably young for a man of 53 years of age. With six-pack still in tact the sheer power of his lungs inflate his neck when his vocals lets rip. Between songs he is probably the warmest frontman, in terms of crowd connection, I have come across.

Marshmallow Field from Please Come Home Mr Bulbous gets the quietest, yet still polite reception of the night and it`s apparent that a good portion of the crowd have missed out on a number of the later King`s X albums.

Looking For Love becomes a crowd sing along and similarly the crowd provide the "Uh`s" for Black The Sky. I know it`s a lot of people`s favourite but I tend to skip Cigarettes on CD. However, after tonight`s performance, I may look at it a little different as the instrumentation was spell binding. Ty Tabor performed the most amazing solo and I hear reports that his fingers were literally bleeding by the end.

We Were Born To Be Loved ends the main set, the stop start ending seeing some particularly impressive drum work from Gerry Gaskill who had astounded us all evening with his skills.

Returning to the stage, Gerry then takes over lead duties for a quick jam which also sees Ty on bass and Doug looking out cheekily from behind the drums. Back to encore proper and everyone here knows Over My Head which incites the first crowd movement of the night.

Moanjam sees Doug falling backwards into the crowd and being held aloft, before Summerland wraps things up with the crowd in full voice.

King`s X Set List:
Groove Machine / Believe / Dogman / Black Flag / Black Like Sunday / Finished / Johnny / Marshmallow Field / Looking For Love / Pretend / Screamer / Black The Sky / Dreams / Cigarettes / It`s Love / Static / Sometimes / We Were Born To Be Loved / Over My Head / Moanjam / Summerland