Where: Hangar on the Hudson, 675 River St., Troy
John Doe of legendary punk band X brought his folk trio to a nearly sold-out Hangar on the Hudson Friday night for a barn-burner of a show. For 80 minutes, Doe and band played a mix of his own country-and-folk originals and a smattering of slightly rejiggered X tracks to great response and even better results. He was impassioned on his own “Golden State” and X’s “Burning House of Love” was transformed into a boom-chicka-boom country track a la classic Johnny Cash. Despite saying he avoids politics on-stage, there’s an obvious subtext to the Tex-Mex swing of “El Romance-0,” a playful tune about a pompous blowhard who “said he’d always win, but I think he lost” and Doe acknowledged present-day parallels before playing X’s anti-Reagan rocker “More Fun in the New World.” One of my favorite shows I’ve been to this year, if not one of the best thus far.
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