The Knitters

House of Blues, Anaheim

Somewhat of a disappointment, the Knitters displayed no real energy on stage and seemed to be more content screwing around than really trying to play some good music. That's probably a little too harsh I suppose, but wrapping up the show after Lee Rocker they had their work cut out for them, and by comparison they just weren't all that interesting. While Exene looked bored and John seemed more amused by the night than anything, Dave Alvin put on a pretty damn good performance on the electric. D.J.  and Jonny brought up the rhythm section rather well and it appeared as if they were at least into it. They probably were a lot better to most of the folks there than I'm relating here, but in all honesty, I think most of them came to see the remnants of X rather than the Knitters, and were expecting to see something a little more up tempo and punky. Maybe that was my problem as well, but I'm pretty sure I just wasn't all that impressed with what they were offering that night. One entertaining part of the evening came when a drunk bride-to-be muscled her way up front, veil and all, and started screaming at Exene how much she loved her and how big of an inspiration she was. After she kept it up for what seemed an interminable length of time, her idol became visibly irritated, and eventually walked off the stage. So much for fan appreciation night. If you like The Knitters' music I'd suggest staying home and listening to a CD rather than dropping some cash on these duds.

You can find The Knitters here.