The return of X

Last night I was lucky enough to be sitting in the right place at the right time, and so to be invited to watch X rehearse for their upcoming dates.
In a stinky pub back room, that usually holds about 200 people, there were five of us- Steve Lucas, Kim Volkman, John Hall (drummer for these dates) a sound guy called Wal & me.
You can quibble all you like about whether this is the "real" X, but don't ignore the music. For my money, this sounded like the real deal- an opinion confirmed by (long term fan & friend of the band) Fred Negro when he stuck his head in for a minute. Really, though, they needed nothing from me, or Fred, so I just sat and enjoyed it,
"But what did they play?" I hear you ask. What I saw went like this:
"TV Glue"- spiky ringing guitar to the forefront, Steve taking the spoken vocal.
"Degenerate Boy"- again, that guitar sound, wrung out of a new Epiphone.
"Moving On"- some trouble with the final few bars' speed metal assault, quickly ironed out.
"Dipstick"- played faster than I've ever seen it done before.
And more- "Oxford Street Nick" "I Like You And You Like Me" ("Oh, I light up so easily-ah...") "Halfway Round The World" (all slashing old style punk chords) "I Don't Wanna Go Out" (I was grinning like a schoolboy for the duration of THAT) and a very sharp take on Del Shannon's "Runaway"...
Questions?
Yes, Rilen is absent, but yes, I think Kim is a great fit as his replacement. Yes, Steve can still be a bit tetchy at times, but yes, these are his songs and he still enjoys- loves- playing them. Worth noting this is not the only project he has on the go, either. Cathy's absence from the stool was explained to me but it's not something I want to go into here.
You would be a fool to miss your chance here.
Dates, links etc- well, here's the band , here's Steve, here's Kim and here's Cathy .
And this is probably a good place to note that the Aztec Music reissue of "At Home With You" with bonus tracks, is now scheduled for May.