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Very pleasing review, check the site, great pics as well…
ROAD TRIP REPORT: Napier skips MMS night 1 for Dinosaur Jr. show
Story by Jeff Napier – Photos by Melonshe –
Thurs. July 21 @ Madison Theatre (Covington, KY)At about the time the 2005 Midwest Music Summit was starting off, I was heading out of town toward Cincinnati as fast as I could go. The first night of MMS might have been a cool one, but I was heading to a better place: a concert by the reunited Dinosaur Jr. at the Madison Theater in Covington Kentucky to be exact.
We walked into the place just as Lou’s Sebadoh counterpart Jason Loewenstein was starting his set, and it wasn’t a bad one, capped off with a rocking and funny “More Drugs.� Then Love As Laughter came on and sounded even better and more rocking then Loewenstein. Front man Sam Jayne had a good handful of songs and led his three-piece on a rocking trip that encompassed a little classic rock touch with some Malkmusque quirkiness. “I Won’t Hurt You� and “Pulsar Radio� in particular rocked the house.
But we were all there waiting for Dinosaur Jr., the ORIGINAL old-school JayLouMurph edition that started it all before Dinosaur Jr. became J. Mascis with a revolving cast of session players. Before the show began, I had an inkling of what was to come when I spied Mascis’ amp rig. Four Marshall cabinets, two on the left looking about as beat to hell as you could imagine and two on the right that looked brand spanking new. Sure enough, as the band came on and launched into “Gargoyle,� it was loud ass mind-melting with guitar dominating everything.
Lou Barlow hasn’t rocked this hard in ten years, I bet. And it became clear that it was his vocal contrast that made Dinosaur Jr. so special during their first three albums. Murph pounded the kit with all he had, a reckless deranged shirtless force that kept the train on the tracks. Barely.
As much as those two guys contributed to Dinosaur Jr., it was J. Mascis who remained the focal point. During the second number, “Tarpit,â€? he let rip with a jet plane decibel level squall of guitar noise that brought tears to the eye not just from the beauty of it, but also from the sheer physical trauma of it. As the band blasted through a set of tunes heavy on the first two albums, (only “Freak Sceneâ€? and “Budgeâ€? were pulled from Bug) J. kept the focus on him — ripping off a psychedelic mind-fuck on “Bulbs of Passion,â€? throwing out hardcore surf-type riffage on “Forget the Swanâ€? and downright trying to mow down the entire audience on “Kracked.â€?
Amidst all this guitar heroism, all of the early hits were trotted out, “Little Fury Things�, “Repulsion� and a first encore of “Just Like Heaven� and “Freak Scene.� Then the second encore found them pulling out “Mountain Man� from the first album and “Chunks,� a b-side from the “Just Like Heaven� single.
Despite all of the hype and excitement of the original line-up being back together, I can’t help but to be in awe of J. Mascis’ unsurpassed rawk power. Unfortunately, this show cast a pall over my Friday night activities, as I was 1.) Still in awe over the power of Mascis and 2.) My head was still pounding from the sadistic volume of the show.
— Jeff Napier —
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