CULTURE

The XX Marks the Spot

The British band takes the stage at the Park Avenue Armory for an intimate concert series.

by Fan Zhong

The xx performing.

Before they sold 1.5 million copies of their debut record and won the Mercury Prize for Britain’s album of the year in 2010, the xx spent years playing “shit pubs,” as guitarist Romy Madley-Croft has said. The Park Avenue Armory in New York—where the minimalist-pop band (Madley-Croft, producer Jamie Smith, and bassist Oliver Sim) will perform a run of 25 shows between March 19 and 29—is far from a shit pub, but the London trio will attempt to replicate the gritty intimacy of their early days by limiting the crowd to just 45 per performance. The Armory’s Drill Hall is 55,000 square feet, so an immersive, site-specific environment has been designed around the band’s whispery, ultra-spare sound. Three years ago, one might have called an xx show for 45 “crowded.” Now it’s “exclusive.”