It’s a mild trend. A few bands have done it. The Cult did it with their ‘Born Into This’ tour. And Metallica are currently doing it on their ‘Hardwired’ tour. I’m talking about recording every show on a leg of a tour and releasing each show as its own live album. And I don’t mean a few shows for a compilation live album. It’s a great idea if the band is known as a live act. Or if the band is just simply a great live band. It gets the audience involved and it gives the hardcore fans something to really sink their teeth into. A great way for the band to say thank you the fans.
The next group to record a leg of their tour is King’s X, who are about to embark on a West Coast U.S. run before heading to the East Coast. And if there’s one group that’s a live act it’s King’s X. Everything from Jerry Gaskill’s tight, heavy grooves to the band’s audience participation. From Dug Pinnick’s vocal wail and Ty Tabors unique, technical guitar work. Frankly, I’m surprised that they don’t have more live material. Yes, there’s the high quality bootlegs from Molken Music: ‘Live and Live Some More: Live in Dallas’ and ‘Tales From The Empire: Live from Cleveland’. But Molken is super underground and the casual fan may not know about those. And then there’s the ‘Live All Over the Place’ and the most recent ‘Live Love in London’. And sure, four live albums is above average. But we’re talking King’s X here. In the mainstream underground they’re known as maybe the greatest live band ever. You’d think there would be more live documents. Similar to that of Dream Theater. But not as intense as Dave Matthews Band.
Well King’s X is about to make up for lost time. They’re recording their tour run that starts in Scottsdale, Az on April 19th and ends in San Juan Capistrano, CA. I personally will be attending the April 25th show at the Whisky A Go Go and I can’t freakin’ wait. If anything the band is playing their best since the ‘Manic Moonlight’ tour. And while a new studio album would be very greatly appreciated, these live recordings are also a very welcome addition to the King’s X catalog.
A tremendous live band.
The groove of the First Church of Rock N Roll.
