House of Blues – Anaheim, CA

[JPeckinpah]

Well, went to see J Mascis & the Fog play the House of Blues in Anaheim right next to Disneyland. The venue is fairly new. It is pretty nice actually, all clean and spacious. However, the crowd was a bit sparse and not very active. When I saw them at the Troubadour last fall, the crowd was much better. Noticed George Berz wandering around the venue before the show…waved at him and he smiled back…must note that Watt chiding him in the tour diaries about indulging in the mota before shows must not have had an effect because Berz looked goofily high….During Love as Laughter’s (? – opening act w/ two guys on guitar) final song, J (drums) and Mike Watt (bass) joined in…so that was cool. Then, following the Buddy Rich anger management tape (most of the audience seemed thorougly confused by the tape, but people laughed whenever they heard profanity…some guy next to me commented that it was probably an old tape of J berating members of the former Dinosaur Jr), J & the Fog started playing.
The set list went: Blowit It/I Live for that Look, I’m Not Fine, Waistin, Little Fury Things, Back Before You Go, Budge, Same Day and then Ammaring. Should note, Ammaring (and Amma) must mean a lot to J because his guitarwork during that song was really masterful and genuinely passionate. Anyways…the band played great…however, then Ron Asheton came out and the rest of the show was all Stooges songs…now, I like the Stooges and all…but I did not really pay to see half a set of Stogges songs…Ron Asheton is nice and all and he is certainly a fine guitar player…but I was kind of annoyed to see J relegated to playing rhythm guitar…I had sort of paid to see J’s guitarwork and I love his solos….frankly, the highlight of the Stooges’ cover portion of the show was when the Love and Laughter lead singer came out and performed the vocals for "I Wanna Be Your Dog." (The guy has genuine stage presence…he even jumped into the crowd). Other than that…it was fine…but not really what I wanted…did not get to hear any of my J favorites, other than Little Fury Things and Budge….missed out on The Wagon, Freakscene, Thumb, Severed Lips, and countless others than I had seen on set lists from other shows posted here…I realize I am gonna get capped on for ripping them for playing half a set of Stooges when Ron Asheton was in the house and all…I like hearing a couple of Stooges songs…but three is plenty…Seven Stooges songs in place of J’s material and guitarwork makes for an unhappy J Mascis fan. Again, the performances were great…I was just hoping for more J….that’s all.
Go Lakers.

[FogLight]

I don’t blame you for being a tad disappointed. I’ve gone to 4 Fog shows since November and heard "the Wagon" one time and "TV Eye" four times. And never heard "Get Me". Stooges songs are great, but when push comes to shove I’d rather hear J do his own songs. But hey, they have the right to play what they want, and they still sound great. I was just happy to be at the shows. But I can relate to how you feel.

[ April 27, 2001: Message edited by: FogLight ]

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