In a city notorious for late-starting shows that end well after midnight, old-school L.A. punkers X bucked the trend in a big way Saturday night at the House of Blues — going onstage before scheduled and finishing well before the clock struck 10 p.m.
The band’s founding quartet—John Doe, Exene Cervenka, Billy Zoom and D.J. Bonebrake—started playing around 8:30 (when HOB ticket operators were still telling walk-ups they had 10 minutes to get situated), and completed a brisk set and three-song encore around 9:35. Doe, the group’s bassist and co-vocalist, announced that the performance was designed to be all-ages and end early enough to allow older concert-goers to hit the town afterwards.
Though “late” arrivers among the crowd of around 700 grumbled about missing the start, they couldn’t complain about the hour or so they did see, a barrage of early era tunes including “Johnny Hit and Run Paulene,” “Nausea,” “Los Angeles,” “Adult Books,” “The Once Over Twice” and “The Hungry Wolf” that demonstrated the 51-to-60-year-olds can still command an audience’s attention. Doe and Cervenka’s contrasting harmonies, in particular, remain strong three decades on, while the goofy grin affixed to Zoom’s his face seemed the absolute
antithesis of his ultra-stoic 
guitar style.