The xx at the San Diego House of Blues 6/8/10

Photo courtesy of flickr.com/snagt

The drive down the 5 didn’t feel like summer. It was June gloom at its finest–temperatures dallied well below the 70 degree mark as the clouds that rolled over the nuclear power plants at San O threatened rain. But given who was in town, the weather couldn’t have been more appropriate.

The last time The xx was in Southern California, the English trio ditched their traditional black for white, relinquishing to the desert heat of Coachella. There would be no concessions this time around. Back in black, the band played the House of Blues in San Diego for the last stop of their West Coast tour.

Unfortunately, the HOB didn’t rise to the occasion. With an awkward policy that had under-21ers confined to the balconies and 40-toting middle agers strutting the floor, the venue seemed more interested in selling drinks than putting on a proper show. Even worse, this was the precedent not the exception. Sound techies struggled to fill the small space with sounds as a slightly miffed crowd shouted “Louder!” Ironically, the loudest thing at times was the fire alarm, set off at least three times by some overactive smoke machines.

The ghosts of xx-mas past.

However, the issues were no fault of the artists. Openers Phantogram, consisting of keyboardist Sarah Barthel and guitarist Josh Carter, exhibited their brand of indie psych pop with a smattering of songs from debut album “Eyelid Movies.” Relying heavily on the intricacies of their drum machine, the duo basked in a seizure-inducing strobe light as they played favorites “Mouthful of Diamonds” and “When I’m Small.” Fittingly, Barthel and Carter set the mood–the latter crouched creepily over his mic while pointing out at the crowd–sucking out the nervous excitement of the venue and replacing it with a brand of eerie cool.

After a series of disconcerting fire alarms, The xx stepped on stage behind a white curtain and unleashed their infamous “Intro” as a trio of silhouettes.The curtain soon dropped to reveal a Romy Madley Croft, Jamie Smith and a swaying Oliver Sim who, without formal introduction, burst through “Crystallized” and “Heart Skipped a Beat.” Four songs in, the band finally acknowledged the sold-out crowd.

“You stayed through two fire alarms,” quipped Sim of the between-set annoyances. “You could have burned to death, but you stayed.”

The xx is no stranger to a bit of smoke during their performance. After Coachella, where they maintained their calm despite a small blaze on the roof of the main stage, Tuesday’s fire alarms seemed a walk in the park. All in a day’s work.

The band continued to play songs off their self-titled debut, mixing in covers including “Do You Mind?” and an impressive rendition of Aaliyah’s “Hot Like Fire.” And while the band matched expectations–from Smith impressively navigating the beats and synth lines to Sim beating the literal shit out of a cymbal during “Nighttime”–the crowd seemed a little too overzealous for it all. Between the fist pumps and high-pitched screams, the HOB seemed more like it was hosting a rising boy band than the indie English trio. Sadly, while The xx seem more jazz night club than outdoor amphitheater, their meteoric rise has them heading toward the latter, as their music has transcended all expectation and developed a massive fan base.

Still, The xx aren’t complaining. In the short span of a year, they’ve gone from indie upstarts to Glastonbury headliners, and as San Diego showed, they have no shortage of admirers. They’re on the rise and there’s little stopping them. Let’s just hope they don’t lose the characteristic cool along the way.

Set List

Intro

Crystallized

Islands

Heart Skipped a Beat

Fantasy

Infinity