San Diego, Soma… what the?

[Beau]

Just got back from the San Diego show.

Pretty disappointed.

Here’s the thing – I saw them in ’94 (well j and the lineup from back then) and thought while the whole thing was a bit sloppy, it was a good, emotion drenched, dynamic kinda sloppy. I did find it too loud and my ears rang the entire next day. But I felt that bit of hearing loss was well worth it.

Saw J last year, even made a note about it on this very site. Small venue, 500 capacity tops. One of the best concerts I’ve been to. J’s playing and singing both just really tops, extra long set, lotsa golden oldies like The Lung and Raisans… and it surprisingly was not too loud. Didn’t have any ringing or anything. Chalked it up to possible hearing loss over the years…

Then this. I dunno. I think they just wanted to kill the audience, lol. It was brutal. Just a mush of sound, J’s voice was almost completely drowned out, on some songs couldn’t even tell what it was until maybe a good 10 seconds into it – and every single song played I’ve heard at least 100 times so it should be _that_ hard. And my ears are ringing pretty darn well. FWIW, I think the venue is largely at fault, it is _not_ known for having good sound, and I wonder if the band might have had trouble hearing each other and just decided to go for broke…

I don’t mean to whine, but I was really looking forward to show with original lineup, I’m a big fan of the first three albums. Just couldn’t have a good time. It’s such a stark contrast from what I saw last year.

[trensidoh]

"Beau " wrote:

Just got back from the San Diego show.

Pretty disappointed.Â

[EDIT]

Just a mush of sound, J’s voice was almost completely drowned out, on some songs couldn’t even tell what it was until maybe a good 10 seconds into it – and every single song played I’ve heard at least 100 times so it should be _that_ hard. And my ears are ringing pretty darn well. FWIW, I think the venue is largely at fault, it is _not_ known for having good sound, and I wonder if the band might have had trouble hearing each other and just decided to go for broke…

I don’t mean to whine, but I was really looking forward to show with original lineup, I’m a big fan of the first three albums. Just couldn’t have a good time. It’s such a stark contrast from what I saw last year.

Bummer to hear that you didn’t get to enjoy it ! Â
What happened, did the band go on full shred-mode and decide to destroy the set by doing feedback and stuff ? Or did they just stick to the bad sound and went with it, but played bad I’m just curious to know what you mean with "the band … decided to go for broke…" ?! Â
Concerning J’s voice – from hearing the Las Vegas recording from 3 days back I know J’s struggeling with a cold and his voice is kinda shocked, temporarily losing it at times…

[Slope1988]

Where can you find the Vegas recording?

[AGAP]

a link is posted on freesofree.net for the Vegas show….here

The webmaster of freesofree is taking in a bunch of shows on the west coast currently, hopefully we get more shows posted when he gets back…

[Hextall]

I have to agree with the SD Show review.

The set list was obscure and the venue could not support the level of noise dinosaur jr produced. After seeing them for years, I knew to bring ear plugs, which not only saved my hearing but enabled me to actually hear the guitar solos.

I am most dissapointed that the show was exactly one hour and five minutes long. I feel ripped off and bummed that the show did not come close to my hysteria of seeing the crew reunited.

[Beau]

When I say "go for broke" I mean I think they kinda had a ‘screw it’ attitude toward the performance and were flubbing alot cause no one probably could tell the difference or maybe they couldn’t themselves. Kinda like the Beatles did just before they stopped touring, cause the fans were so deafingly loud they took it as a joke.

The problem wasn’t like a high treble content so much as it was like being trapped inside a improperly ported bass enclosure. It was this murky mush of sound where I could hardly make out anything, yet at the same time it wanted to rip my ears cleanly off my head.

As Hextall said the show was pretty short, I swear most the songs were from the first album and their EPs and not so much stuff from Living/Bug. EDIT: in retrospect it seems they may have covered at least half of Living… but I do feel Bug deserves equal weight, IMO. Don’t get me wrong, I love songs like Whatever’s Cool w/Me, Just Like Heaven… and things like Bulbs of Passion and Forget the Swan are kitschy fun trying to imagine these guys as teens. But like the Pixies getting back together (just saw a few weeks ago – absolutely, hearstoppingly unbelievable) these guys as this unit are legends, I want to hear their legendary material. It could very well be my only time.

It matters much to me cause I am a _huge_ fan… I put J up there with the likes of Hendrix, Morrison, etc. Hist show last year proved why he deserves to be in that echelon, and for that I am always greatful. The one last night though made me question my faith – Lou said something at the end of the set like "Thanks so much for coming out guys, we really appreciate it." I just didn’t buy it.

[jon]

both j and lou said the same thing in atlanta. it felt heartfelt and sincere. i havent heard audio yet, but sometimes you have a bad gig… it seems you would really appreciate people comin out if you did?

[tom_in_chicago]

Quote:

The one last night though made me question my faith – Lou said something at the end of the set like "Thanks so much for coming out guys, we really appreciate it." I just didn’t buy it.

What didn’t you "buy" ? That he was happy to see people appreciating the band again ? That he was acknowledging that the sound sucked ass ? Believe me, he’s one of the most humble guys you’ll ever meet, despite the ridiculousness some people spout about his "ego". If he said "thanks", he meant "thanks".

With the sound, the sound is almost entirely dictated by the acoustics of the venue. I’ve never been to Soma, but I’d bet that if you had asked them about it after the soundcheck, they would have said the same thing. There’s only so much that Ajay can do.

As far as material goes, I don’t think they’ve played much at all off Bug the whole tour. And FWIW, J happens to think that "Bulbs" is one of, if not the, BEST songs they ever did.

[Beau]

I believe if you appreciate your fans you do what you can to make the best out of a bad situation.

Soma sound sucks = turn down for chrissakes.

The crowd was mostly motionless (I mean no swaying/bobbing, lotsa folks standing straight up with their arms folded), the applause always sounded polite. I noticed people leaving as early as the third song. Before the encore it had thinned out quite a bit.

Again I can not stress this enough – the whole experience was a polar opposite of the Fog show I saw last year. People were grooving big time. I dunno, maybe that was a more hardcore fan base at the show, but you would think differently for the folks coming out for the original lineup.

You can justify this any which way you want. I was let down big time.

[Beau]

"arleach " wrote:

As far as material goes, I don’t think they’ve played much at all off Bug the whole tour. And FWIW, J happens to think that "Bulbs" is one of, if not the, BEST songs they ever did.

Not that I participate on this forum much but I was on the Dino J listserv for a couple years in the mid 90s (circa 94-95). If you remember a guy who transcribed maybe a couple dozen songs, who was taking requests, that was me.

Never remember a request for this song. Pong Song? Yes.

Isn’t the point of reunion shows to please the fans who weren’t there to see them way back when? I might be nutso here but I always got the impression Bug was right behind Whatever for the serious fans…

[crazycloud]

Quote:

I wonder if the band might have had trouble hearing each other and just decided to go for broke…

after a tour like this its any wonder if the band will even be able to hear anyone

[kracked873]

if its too loud, leave, if you paid 40 bucks.. and you knew it was gonna be insanely loud (cause it has been for 20 fucking years) then you paid for what you got. if you cant handle it.. go see oasis or something…

[Author]

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