Recording: The Ex

Artist: The Ex

Song: Birth

Recorded at The Jam Factory, May 17, 2019.

The Ex - Birth

It's always an immense treat when these Dutch legends make their way to town, a party celebrating the notion that musical longevity can lead to transformations and delightful reinventions. Not content to crank out "the hits", the setlist leaned on last year's 27 passports album. The biggest downside here was the venue itself, the Jam Factory's stageless setup making it impossible for anyone more than a couple rows back to see the band — and watching the kineticism of guitarists Terry Ex and Andy Moor is one of the great joys of going to an Ex gig. And then, when Brodie West (a longtime associate of the band whose Eucalyptus helped open things up) came out at the end to add some sax to "Eoleyo" and "Lale guma", the PA on one side of the room was beset by demons, rendering things unlistenable. So more of a draw than an outright triumph, but one should take a page from the band's m.o. — soldier on and hope for some transcendence down the line.