Fri. April 2 

Backstage at a rock club ... it's a zone I know. Especially the Paradise, which has been here since I came to town in 1978. So last year, I'm back there (in the upstairs, opening act area, actually) for the show headlined by Friendly Fires. I was more impressed by the opener, the xx, a young trio fronted by childhood pals guitarist-singer Romy Madley Croft and bassist-singer Oliver Sim. I was reviewing the show for the Herald. So, I did my wandering back to say hi, get a set list, maybe have a quick chat and a beer. They seemed not stunned or shell-shocked exactly, but communicative wouldn't be the word I'd use. I'm usually pretty good at this, finding the wavelength the artist is on and getting there myself. I made a couple of attempts here and was met by abrupt, albeit polite, answers. They just didn't have much to say and were, I'd have to wager, painfully shy, not antagonistic or press phobic. And, yes, if you listen to their moody and atmospheric music, that might not be a shocker. (Though, I remmber interviewing New Order for the first time, 1982 I think, and I went into it all respectful and soft-spoken - y'know, because of their history and the suicide of their singer, Ian Curtis, when they were Joy Division - and they really weren't like their music at all. They were young Brits in New York, playing music at a club, there to enjoy the indulgences young men of a certain age enjoyed in 1982 at a club.)

I digress. What are the xx about? During the xx’s eight-song, 35-minute opening set, they showed echoes of Joy Division and the Cure. Their music didn’t as much surge or climax as it did waft and linger. Croft and Sim swapped lead vocals. Bass lines often carried the melody. Crystalline guitar riffs chimed in. Jamie Smith provided a backbone of sorts, triggering a variety of sampled sounds. It was, mostly, delicate and fragile, though the xx broke out with splendiferous splash at the end with “Infinity.”
Now, the xx returns to headline the Paradise Friday April 2. I'm guessing they'll have more material - they'd just about have to - and I'm guessing it'll be on the sublime side. There are now two shows, a 6 and a 9 and they're both soldout. Which means, yes, ticket agencies, making friends on the street, etc.

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