X-tra, X-tra! The Cleavers reconvene

We finally had an opportunity to watch Those XCleavers live for the first time last night, just 23 years after the release of their album Cult Statis.  We sure hope we don't have to wait 23 years more to see them again.

Obviously these Milwaukee punk practicioners had a strong following back in the day. Not every act fills Shank Hall with the wild energy that was bouncing off the walls and reverberating through the hall last night like a sonic laser beam show.

"You people are scaring me," said bass player Tom Tiedjens early in the second set as the floor in front of the stage became a mob of gyrating bodies. "We thought this was gonna be a concert and an Eighties dance broke out."

You don't dance?  Then you've never seen the XCleavers live. When they were sewing their wild notes years ago they opened for U2 in Madison and the Police at the Milwaukee Auditorium. How "4 Chord Shit," the first song Tiedjens ever wrote, never became a punk national anthem is one of life's great injustices.

For a $10 cover (cheap!) fans were rewarded with a complimentary 15-song disc "Live at Shank Hall 1996" and a high octane show that proved the boys still have plenty of piss and vinegar.  It'll be a shame if they don't start playing out more.