While charging through a gnarly month at work, I counted the days to see King’s X at the Gramercy Theatre.
To make a day out of my day off from work first was indulging in a beast of an Eastsider burger at my favorite East Village eatery, Paul’s Da Burger Joint, and a little post-meal window shopping in Saint Marks Place.
When it got closer to 5:00, I walked to East 23rd street and waited until doors opened at 7:00. Being aware this venue was usually general admission, I was slightly disappointed when finding out this gig was a seated event. That would change later when King’s X performed and waited around for a little longer.
It was time to head upstairs after chilling out some more in the lounge. It was my first time seeing the iconic Missourian trio, and not only were the attendees standing by this point, but a standing ovation happened the minute King’s X took the stage.
King’s X started their set by deep diving with Groove Machine. As soon as they locked it in, everybody got into it. They then went into other deep cuts like Vegetable, Flies, and Blue Skies (this set-list was defiantly for the die-hard fans), including classics like Pillow, Dogman, and two new songs – satisfying everyone in attendance. It seemed like nothing affected their performance since not playing during Covid.
Dug, Jerry and Ty also treated their dedicated New York fans with an Only in New York moment. Felicia Collins and Paul Shaffer from the CBS Orchestra joined King’s X on stage to add some extra pizzazz for We Were Born to Be Loved. As if that wasn’t enough, dear readers. A man with a professional-grade camera walked around all night long, shooting what seemed like B-Roll footage for a King’s X documentary.
The entire show went over so well with everything said (and more) that the best way to close a brilliant performance was with the very definition of crowd participation. Closing with Goldilox, Dug acted as a human teleprompter by having the audience sing the entirety of the song, sending a bunch of honoraries and local New Yorkers home happy.
As for yours truly, what started as a great time taking in Saint Marks Place, catching a fantastic sold-out show with King’s X, I concluded what was a wet hot American summer night with ice cream plus some dearly missed hang time with a top tier friend of mine.
