J Mascis & the Fog take Berlin (december ,1.)

[OriginalPosterLost]

J. Mascis & the Fog at the Columbia Fritz, Berlin , first of December
Setlist (as was written)
1 Real Cool
2 same day
3 where d u
4 fury
5 wastin
6 blown mw
7 back B4U
8 not right
9 I´m not fine
10 repulsion (though I can´t remember them playing it, but that might be due to alcohol consumption; maybe turnipfarmer has a better recollection of the events)
11 all the girls
12 AMMA
13 Thumb
14 TV eye
Encore:
15 more light
16 alone (but they played Just like Heaven instead)
17 Freak
To forgo any misunderstandings, I thought it was really good, the more as they played my favourite Dino tune (little fury things) fairly early in the proceedings. However, halfway through the gig I coulnd´t help noticing, that there was actually a bunch of old men on stage, complete with grey hair and potbellies. Naturally, nothing wrong with that, but to have a go at Stooges classics is pushing it a bit, me thinks. The audience was somewhat reserved during the first half of the show ( that´s Berlin for you I guess), but things perked up considerably with Back before you go; however, expressions like "all hell is breaking loose" didn`t necessarily spring to mind. I´m not fine and All the girls went down equally well and we had some excessive guitare doodling during AMMARING and Thumb, which I´m not a great fan of, but the crowd seemed to like it well enough. They finished their regular set with a rather stout version of TV eye with Mike on vocals. I´m sorry guys, but J Mascis & the Fog play far too tight to mess with the Stooges´ loose aproach (no pun intended) during their fun house era.
Also it struck me as kind of sad, that the very last song they played was freakscene. A bit like the Stones reentering the stage to do Satisfaction. Needless to say, the crows loved it.
Also it seems, that J Mascis attracts all kinds of loonies. First, there was this strange little fellow, who, prior to the gig, kept on hollering in the most irritating manner. During the first songs he constantantly rattled Js microphone stand till the mic fell off (again and again). J was sort of amused by this and when he inquired what the problem was, this jerk said he couldn´t hear a thing. I should add, that the volume at the front was on the brink of being nauseating, despite my trusty earplugs being tucked firmly into place. Anyway, J turned one of his monitors around, so that this deaf nutcase might leave his microphone stand alone. Which he, despite everyone around trying to calm him down, didn´t do. So one of the bouncers had to whisk him away. Strange.
Secondly, there was this sad Smeghead, who managed to get on everyones tits with increasingly violent moshing. I mean, this was rather rude, considering how many girls there were at the front. It only takes one idiot to make life for everyone else just a little more unbearable.
Sound was okay (for dino standards), although from my vantage point you couldn´t hear much bass, yet it was great fun to watch Mike play with so much verve. He seems to be really into it by now. And J was in a good mood as well.
All in all, it was enjoyable throughout, sound, songs, vibe; everything was fine and yet, I had the feeling that the old sparkle was gone. Less Rock´n´Roll and more Pubrock, but maybe that´s what we came here for. But to get a glimpse of the real action I recommend the next generation, i.e. Trail of Dead, (international) noise conspiracy, modest mouse, the hives ect. And tomorrow I´m going to see Grandaddy & Eskobar.
gruss
d

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if you don’t find what you are looking for, ask for it

<FONT>[Edited 1 time by dimpfelmoser on December 04, 2000 at 10:56 AM]</font>

[OriginalPosterLost]

Hey Dimpfelmoser,

Glad you enjoyed the show, crowd was kinda lame….I mean tame….in Minneapolis as well. Quite the set list, gotta love covering tons of new ones and the classics…don’t think the crowd would forgive him if he didn’t play freakscene.

Being a huge Stooges fan I was over the top that they actually did some Stooges on this tour…I wore out a couple vinyl copies of Funhouse, thank god for the rhino box set…I was very happy with how they did the covers. The looseness (loose is a very cool tune)you talk of with the Stooges was definitely fueled by many excesses…not healthy ones thats for sure. When I saw them they did not play TV EYE tightly at all, I think George dropped the sticks at one point…what would Rock Action think…ahhh. Mascis played some shows over the summer in NYC playing just Stooges cover under the name Hellride East….I keep checking the digital club network site but no date for rebroadcast yet….god.

International Noise Conspiracy opened the show in Minneapolis, they were great fun definitely. I have to disagree about the sparkle being gone…new music, new times therefore new sparkle….I love it.But hey we can’t agree on everything, glad you enjoyed the show.

Allison

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[OriginalPosterLost]

Nothin much to add to your review, dimpfelmoser. You are right, they played REPULSION and it was from my point of view one of the best tunes as it worked really well. Watt really put on a show: during the first lines of REAL COOL he lost his glasses shaking his head, and when they finished TV EYE he nearly lost control of himself – he stagged backwards and just could avoid falling over the drums. To bad that it wasn’t Oct 31st. [img]http://www.freakscene.net/ubb/smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]
I believe the crowd (almost sold-out I believe) really dug the show. Every time looking around I saw happy folks having the same big grin on their faces that I was wearing & keeping at least for the rest of the night.

Lars

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