By Kara Sprague
2012, Nada Surf's 20th as a band, was a busy one.
They released their seventh album, "The Stars Are Indifferent To Astronomy" in January. The band toured the U.S., U.K. and the European Union in support of the album.
The band got a little time off after doing 25 shows in 35 days throughout Europe, it got a few weeks off. Back on the road, it wrapped up the year and its tour with an eight city, ten day swing through the Midwest and East Coast.
A pair of sold-out shows at the Bowery wrapped up the "Stars" tour this past weekend. It might have been a long, tiring year on the road, but the band showed it had plenty of energy to wrap up the tour with aplomb.
I'd seen Nada Surf twice before in Nebraska, in 2003 in support of "Let Go" and 2008 in support of "Lucky."
Both times, the band was in the same three-piece formation it had been in since prior to recording its 1996 full-length debut "High/Low": singer/guitarist Matthew Caws, bassist Daniel Lorca and drummer Ira Elliott.
In the period since "Lucky" band had added a not-so-secret weapon to its arsenal in Doug Gillard.
Gillard's lent his talents to a number of bands over the years, most notably Guided by Voices.
Coming on board to play guitar on "Stars", Gillard joined the band for the subsequent tour,
As good as those three-piece shows were, Gillard is a clear case of addition by addition. His stinging, strong clean and mean leads and solos, gave the songs additional punch and his recognizable tone.
There was plenty of opportunity for the additional punch, as the band played for a long time, 26 songs in all onstage.
"High/Low" was a blessing with a catch. It did provide the band with a radio/MTV hit in "Popular", but it also meant label pressure for a follow-up hit. When the band's label didn't like the second album, "Proximity Effect", the result was the band being stuck in purgatory before finally being able to release the album four years after the debut.
While the delay might have cost the band some external momentum, it didn't show up in the finished product.
In reality, the debut album had its definite high points, but was also an uneven affair.
Over the ensuing years, the band honed its chemistry and songcraft. Instead of being a fairly standard, if smarter, band of alt-rockers the debut might have suggested, they turned into one of the best power pop bands around. They kept enough punch to avoid becoming overly twee or precious and enough modernity to avoid sounding like slavish revivalists.
The songs and the chops were on display throughout the evening, starting with the two songs that kick off "Stars" -- "Clear Eye and Clouded Mind" and "Waiting For Something."
Lorca, with his bass slung low, and the rock-solid Elliott, a key weapon on drums, held down the rhythm.
The main 21-song portion of the set was made up of mostly of songs from the band's last four non-cover records,. The band waited until midway through the set to play three songs from "Proximity Effect" in a row "Hyperspace" (a good set and mix closer, actually), "Amateur" and "80 Windows."
That was definitely well-received by the supportive hometown crowd, but pretty much every song was. It wasn't too difficult to look around and see fans singing or mouthing along to the words. It was also a diverse fan base with fans young enough to be kids (or at least nieces and nephews) of the band (and this reviewer) and fans more of, well, my age.
Hooks and melody hold no age and that's what continued to shine throughout the night -- from "Concrete Bed" and "Whose Authority" early in the evening to "Inside of Love", a "Let Go" classic and "Teenage Dreams" off "Stars."
The one album not represented though the set was "High/Low", which changed with the encore.
A surging "Deeper Well" off that album kicked it off. "Popular" followed, coming off a bit too rushed, sacrificing the universal deadpan humor of the verses for a faster, just shy of auctioneer, delivery.
Things got better quickly with the tempo dialed back for "See These Bones" and "Always Love."
The encore wrapped up with an obvious end-of-the-night choice -- "Blankest Year" a song about when things get bad enough that one just says "Fuck it. I'm gonna have a party"...with the added benefit of providing the audience the opportunity to sing "Fuck iiiiiittt" at the appropriate spots.
Stretching out the catchy little number, the band was joined onstage by some dancing audience members of varying age and dancing skills.
It was the clear end of the night, one that began with Jennifer O'Connor's pleasant and entertaining opening set of indie singer-songwriter pop and folk. One that ended with 26 songs of often terrific power pop/rock that shows the band retaining freshness two days in.
It was the clear end of the night...except it wasn't.
Some 10 minutes or so after the house lights had been turned on and people started clearing out of the Bowery, Deb and I made our way to the merch table. I made a purchase there and soon heard music starting behind me.
I looked up and there was Caws, with an acoustic guitar, singing to the remaining fans as he stood on the stairs between the exit and the merch table.
His performances of "Blizzard of 77" and "The Future" were a nice little bonus, the cherry on top of a tasty musical sundae.
All in all, a winning sendoff to 2012 for a winning band.
OF TWO MINDS -- Musings on music, sports and pop culture, even the world, from the minds of two women from New York by way of the city of Cleveland and small-town Nebraska, respectively. Deborah Sprague and Kara Tucker.
Monday, December 17, 2012
Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit, Bowery Ballroom, Dec. 7, 2012
By Kara Sprague
Anyone who follow's musician Jason Isbell's Twitter page knows the man has a sense of humor.
That sense of humor extended to when it came time to name his tour in support of his newest album, "Live From Alabama" is his third wiith the 400 Unit after two studio releases,
It goes back to a song called "Outfit", a song filled with love and humor inspired by a conversation with his father. The song was one of the standouts Isbell wrote during his stint in the Drive-By Truckers. It remains a perennial in his sets as he goes further into his post-Truckers career.
If you go to an Isbell show, you're going to hear "Outfit" much more often than not.
Isbell, on his website, told the story of one of those shows.
“One particular night,” he explains, “there was one guy in the crowd, he was three quarters of the way back. I could hear him yelling, ‘Play “Outfit!”’ He eventually wiggled his way up right in front of me … he got really frustrated and he wouldn’t even wait until a song was over, every time I took a breath he would yell right in my face, ‘Play “Outfit!”’ I was about to play something else, and I look down and he’s about to cry. He said, ‘Man, stop fuckin’ around and play “Outfit!”’ We figured we’d call this tour the Stop Fucking Around and Play ‘Outfit’ Tour for that guy.”
That song, part of a good cross section of Isbell's career, made the setlist for the 400 Unit's show at the Bowery.
Isbell's one of the finest Southern rock musicians out there today, not in what some people expect from the term, which might conjure up visions of compilation albums with Confederate flag imagery and busty women in cowboy hats on the cover.
Rather, Isbell works well as a literate storyteller, skillfully creating characters and drawing details into his songs,
As evidenced by the Bowery show, Isbell and the 400 Unit are capable of delivering a tour of the South musically. Bases were covered, from Muscle Shoals and Memphis soul to Nashville country to New Orleans funk to muscular folk straight ahead juke joint rock and roll.
The tour was delivered through a set of 18 songs -- ten off Isbell's albums, five of his DBT contributions and a trio of covers.
The expanded palette served Isbell well, as it has since he parted ways with the Truckers.
Opening with the solid 1-2 punch of "Tour of Duty", the last song off Isbell's latest studio release ("Here We Rest") and DBT standard "Decoration Day", the band delivered a steady set that never dipped while offering its share of high points.
One was "Dress Blues", a song Isbell wrote for his pre-400 Unit solo debut "Sirens of the Ditch."
The song was dedicated to the man it was written for, Matthew Conley, a Marine corporal from Isbell's hometown who died in Iraq, just two days before he was scheduled to be shipped home and a week before his 22nd birthday.
The melancholy song gains its power by downplaying any political overtones for a sense of loss for someone taken too soon from a community small enough to feel that loss deeply.
Isbell's skills in reflective moments, as with "Dress Blues" and the first encore song, DBT's "Danko/Manuel" made his songs a nice change of pace from the often grittier material on those Truckers' records. They played wall off the Bowery set's rockers.
"Try", off "Sirens" surged with power. The anthemic DBT track "Never Gonna Change" showed Isbell and Co, capable of turning up the volume with aplomb.
Response to newer material was encouraging. Audience members responded pretty much as enthusiastically to songs like "Alabama Pines" and "Codeine" off "Here We Rest" as they did to classic Truckers material.
The covers showed off the versatility -- the southern soul of Candi Staton's "Heart on a String", an energetic take on the Meters' "Hey Pocky A-Way" (with drummer Chad Gamble on vocals) that would have brought a smile to Lowell George's face and a capable run through Neil Young's "Like a Hurricane" that closed the night.
And yes, they did play "Outfit."
Isbell told the story of the tour name, embellishing it with the occasional quip, While the story meant that some guy in the crowd was guaranteed to yell "Play Outfit!" between songs the rest of the night, the song was a highly welcome, if obvious, part of the set.
Communist Daughter, a Minnesota-based band, opened the show with a set combining agreeable folk and moments of New Pornographers-like poppiness. Even some of the band's moments clicked better than others, it served as a perfectly capable warm-up for the headliner.
As for Isbell, his songs deserve get heard by a wider audience, but the crowd that filled up most of the Bowery had to leave pretty satisfied.
Anyone who follow's musician Jason Isbell's Twitter page knows the man has a sense of humor.
That sense of humor extended to when it came time to name his tour in support of his newest album, "Live From Alabama" is his third wiith the 400 Unit after two studio releases,
It goes back to a song called "Outfit", a song filled with love and humor inspired by a conversation with his father. The song was one of the standouts Isbell wrote during his stint in the Drive-By Truckers. It remains a perennial in his sets as he goes further into his post-Truckers career.
If you go to an Isbell show, you're going to hear "Outfit" much more often than not.
Isbell, on his website, told the story of one of those shows.
“One particular night,” he explains, “there was one guy in the crowd, he was three quarters of the way back. I could hear him yelling, ‘Play “Outfit!”’ He eventually wiggled his way up right in front of me … he got really frustrated and he wouldn’t even wait until a song was over, every time I took a breath he would yell right in my face, ‘Play “Outfit!”’ I was about to play something else, and I look down and he’s about to cry. He said, ‘Man, stop fuckin’ around and play “Outfit!”’ We figured we’d call this tour the Stop Fucking Around and Play ‘Outfit’ Tour for that guy.”
That song, part of a good cross section of Isbell's career, made the setlist for the 400 Unit's show at the Bowery.
Isbell's one of the finest Southern rock musicians out there today, not in what some people expect from the term, which might conjure up visions of compilation albums with Confederate flag imagery and busty women in cowboy hats on the cover.
Rather, Isbell works well as a literate storyteller, skillfully creating characters and drawing details into his songs,
As evidenced by the Bowery show, Isbell and the 400 Unit are capable of delivering a tour of the South musically. Bases were covered, from Muscle Shoals and Memphis soul to Nashville country to New Orleans funk to muscular folk straight ahead juke joint rock and roll.
The tour was delivered through a set of 18 songs -- ten off Isbell's albums, five of his DBT contributions and a trio of covers.
The expanded palette served Isbell well, as it has since he parted ways with the Truckers.
Opening with the solid 1-2 punch of "Tour of Duty", the last song off Isbell's latest studio release ("Here We Rest") and DBT standard "Decoration Day", the band delivered a steady set that never dipped while offering its share of high points.
One was "Dress Blues", a song Isbell wrote for his pre-400 Unit solo debut "Sirens of the Ditch."
The song was dedicated to the man it was written for, Matthew Conley, a Marine corporal from Isbell's hometown who died in Iraq, just two days before he was scheduled to be shipped home and a week before his 22nd birthday.
The melancholy song gains its power by downplaying any political overtones for a sense of loss for someone taken too soon from a community small enough to feel that loss deeply.
Isbell's skills in reflective moments, as with "Dress Blues" and the first encore song, DBT's "Danko/Manuel" made his songs a nice change of pace from the often grittier material on those Truckers' records. They played wall off the Bowery set's rockers.
"Try", off "Sirens" surged with power. The anthemic DBT track "Never Gonna Change" showed Isbell and Co, capable of turning up the volume with aplomb.
Response to newer material was encouraging. Audience members responded pretty much as enthusiastically to songs like "Alabama Pines" and "Codeine" off "Here We Rest" as they did to classic Truckers material.
The covers showed off the versatility -- the southern soul of Candi Staton's "Heart on a String", an energetic take on the Meters' "Hey Pocky A-Way" (with drummer Chad Gamble on vocals) that would have brought a smile to Lowell George's face and a capable run through Neil Young's "Like a Hurricane" that closed the night.
And yes, they did play "Outfit."
Isbell told the story of the tour name, embellishing it with the occasional quip, While the story meant that some guy in the crowd was guaranteed to yell "Play Outfit!" between songs the rest of the night, the song was a highly welcome, if obvious, part of the set.
Communist Daughter, a Minnesota-based band, opened the show with a set combining agreeable folk and moments of New Pornographers-like poppiness. Even some of the band's moments clicked better than others, it served as a perfectly capable warm-up for the headliner.
As for Isbell, his songs deserve get heard by a wider audience, but the crowd that filled up most of the Bowery had to leave pretty satisfied.
Monday, December 3, 2012
Dinosaur Jr at Terminal 5, Manhattan, Dec. 1 2012
By Kara Sprague
Most of alternative rock radio long ago redefined itself as "active rock" with playlists full of semi-indistinguishable hard rock bands with names like Shiny Mud and Stonestorm (or something like that).
With that in mind, it would be understandable that there would be a market for nostalgia for the alt-rock of yesteryear on the concert trail.
That showed itself more in 2012. The Afghan Whigs reunited for a well-received tour, for one.
But outside of a couple of digitally-released covers (including a well-chosen, well-performed version of Frank Ocean's "Lovecrimes"), the band was touring behind nothing new. As lean, mean and tight as the 'Whigs were after over a decade apart, at this point there's only a vague open-ended hope of new material.
Less nostalgic, though not a reunion, were a few of Bob Mould's shows performed this past summer. Mould's too-short-lived band Sugar didn't get back together, but Mould celebrated the 20th anniversary of that band's seminal "Copper Blue" album by performing that album in its entirety at some shows.
Mould is no nostalgia act at this point, as his 2012 album "Silver Age" was loud, catchy, crunchy rock in the Sugar vein. It's easily his best album in years, standing alongside "Copper Blue" as his best post-Husker Du work.
That brings us to Dinosaur Jr., a band that combined elements of indie, stoner rock, classic rock, punk and more into its recorded output.
The band got the reunion part out of the way years ago, after the '90s departures of of bassist Lou Barlow (who went on to form another beloved indie band, Sebadoh) and drummer Murph.
The original trio that made up the band set aside any lingering acrimony for a series of well-received albums, 2007's "Beyond", 2009's "Farm" and 2012's "I Bet on Sky"
Dinosaur Jr. is currently touring behind the new album, but found time for a special look back with the help of a number of musical guest stars.
The result was nearly two-and-a-half hours that provided testimony to how vital the band still is and how fresh their classic work remains. And all the while, the guest stars added, not distracted from the proceedings while showing off different elements that informed the band's work.
The occasion for the special show at Terminal 5 was a celebration of the band's "You're Living All Over Me" album, the band's first album to show them as a force and an influence.
The concert was split into two halves -- the first was a performance of that album in order and nearly in its entirety. The second half was a series of other songs from the band's career along with some covers as the special guests appeared more frequently.
The one constant in the band's history is laconic guitar hero/anti-hero J Mascis, whose combination of the air of slackerish indifference combined with loud, listen-to-me guitar wankery defined a lot of the band's sound and sensibility. Not to mention that he was and remains the key songwriter. Even with Barlow much more established as a writer, Mascis carries the bulk of the writing credits post-reunion.
Mascis was his usual self, tossing out minimal stage banter, but plenty of shredworthy solos, fuzzy noise and general heroics.
Just two guest stars appeared in the album performance part of the set. Suzanne Thorpe, known for her work with Mercury Rev, played flute on the non-"Living" track "Thumb" and ex-Sonic Youth member Lee Ranaldo who took lead vocals on the second song of the night, "Little Fury Things."
The original album (and it's follow-up "Bug", for that matter) were often abrasive, edgy affairs whose production made them even edgier.
In a live setting, the songs from the album (minus only its cover of the Cure's "Just Like Heaven", sadly) gained depth. The band members, now all in their mid-to-late 40s, have enough years behind them to make up in power for the youthful edginess no longer there.
Barlow periodically thanked the packed crowd for "coming to our special show,"
At one point, Mascis said, "All right. Thanks a lot. That was side one."
Almost deadpan acknowledgements of the crowd aside, the band showed off a solid chemistry and its appreciation could be seen in the smiles that popped up, particularly on Barlow's and Murph's faces.
Barlow closed off the "Living" portion alone with "Poledo," which he not inaccurately described as the "awkward ending to amazing album" (though more because the song sounded like a dry run for some of the terrain he'd explore in Sebadoh).
With the Barlow-and-ukulele number out of the way, it was time to start bringing out the guest stars in earnest.
Frank Black of Dino's Boston-based compatriots (and masters of the earlier-in-the decade nostalgic cash grab faux-reunion tour) Pixies came out first.
He joined the band for a "Almost Fare", one of the songs off the new album before tearing into a ripping version of the Pixies "Tame" (it's not as if his old band sucked on that cash-grab tour, after all).
Opening act Kurt Vile was the next guest, giving Mascis a second guitarist to play off of in a wanktastic guitar showcase with Al Cisneros of Speed on bass and Kyle Spence of Harvey Milk sitting in on drums.
Barlow and Murph returned for "Don't Pretend You Didn't Know" and "Watch the Corner" before it was time for the next of the next big name alt-rock heroes to come on stage.
Johnny Marr, whose excellent guitar work helped make the Smiths the seminal band they were and has worked with all sorts of people in the 20-plus years since, came on stage, as did Kevin Drew of that Canadian musical conglomerate Broken Social Scene.
Drew took lead vocals on "The Wagon" (from 1991's "Green Mind") and a cover of the Smiths' "The Boy With The Thorn In His Side" that translated well enough, even if it was a departure from the jangling swooniness of the original.
The group followed by going deeper into its history to a cover of "Training Ground", a song from Deep Wound, the hardcore band Barlow and Mascis were in as teenager.
Guest stars were overlapping by this point, as Dale Crover of the Melvins handled the drums on the Smiths and Deep Wound covers, thus marking the only time those three bands have been in the same sentence.
One of the striking things about the evening was the fact that things were mostly free of glitches, outside of one instance where Barlow had to be brought back from offstage because he didn't realize he was singing lead vocal on a song. All involved generally deftly handled the changing faces.
The next contemporary to arrive was Don Fleming, who worked a bit with the band in its immediate post-Barlow days. Fleming delivered more hardcore, this time with lead vocals on a cover of DC hardcore band Iron Cross' "Crucified."
Following up two hardcore songs was the most intense guest star of the evening.
One of Kim Gordon's real strengths in Sonic Youth was her ability to pull of quiet cool and raging intensity, depending on the song,
Saturday's appearance from Gordon was all the latter, as she brought to life to "Don't." A song that seemed more of a listener endurance test in its recorded incarnation on "Bug" was much better in Gordon's hands.
With no concessions to age, Gordon ripped through the song with vocal cord-shredding fervor.
Even if the song did drag on a bit past its natural end point, it was one of the evening's highlights and a perfect way to end the main set.
It wasn't an end to the evening, however, as a rather interesting lineup took the stage. Mascis took his normal spot with guitar, but a whole bevy of new faces joined him. There was Tommy Stinson of the classic Replacements and the not-so-classic Axl Rose-hired backing band calls Guns N Roses these days on bass. On drums? Fred Armisen, known more for these as a performer on "Saturday Night Live" and "Portlandia" but who started out as a punk drummer. On vocals was rock veteran John Petkovic of Cobra Verde and the more recent Sweet Apples (a project with Mascis and others).
This was no alt-rock Asia, as the foursome delivered an energetic version of the Stooges' "TV Eye" with Petkovic bounding about the stage as usual.
With all of the guest star highlights, this was still a Dinosaur Jr. show after all and the original trio finished the night together with two classics from years gone by.
First, "Start Choppin", the "Where You Been" track that was one of the band's catchiest and one of the closest things to a hit they had. It retained its catchy punch.
To wrap things up, the band wisely went with "Freak Scene," arguably the band's high point on record.
The song so deftly captured either the messiness of a relationship between two people or within a music scene..or maybe both.
A line in the last verse goes, "Just don't let me fuck up will you?/Cause when I need a friend it's still you."
On a rare night with so much and so varied talent onstage, the band and its guests produced music that was never less than good and was quite stellar more often than not.
Rest assured, Dinosaur Jr. didn't fuck up and left the house with 3,300 friends who'd been highly entertained and filed out of Terminal 5 grateful for the opportunity to witness a historic night where the living history was very much alive.
Most of alternative rock radio long ago redefined itself as "active rock" with playlists full of semi-indistinguishable hard rock bands with names like Shiny Mud and Stonestorm (or something like that).
With that in mind, it would be understandable that there would be a market for nostalgia for the alt-rock of yesteryear on the concert trail.
That showed itself more in 2012. The Afghan Whigs reunited for a well-received tour, for one.
But outside of a couple of digitally-released covers (including a well-chosen, well-performed version of Frank Ocean's "Lovecrimes"), the band was touring behind nothing new. As lean, mean and tight as the 'Whigs were after over a decade apart, at this point there's only a vague open-ended hope of new material.
Less nostalgic, though not a reunion, were a few of Bob Mould's shows performed this past summer. Mould's too-short-lived band Sugar didn't get back together, but Mould celebrated the 20th anniversary of that band's seminal "Copper Blue" album by performing that album in its entirety at some shows.
Mould is no nostalgia act at this point, as his 2012 album "Silver Age" was loud, catchy, crunchy rock in the Sugar vein. It's easily his best album in years, standing alongside "Copper Blue" as his best post-Husker Du work.
That brings us to Dinosaur Jr., a band that combined elements of indie, stoner rock, classic rock, punk and more into its recorded output.
The band got the reunion part out of the way years ago, after the '90s departures of of bassist Lou Barlow (who went on to form another beloved indie band, Sebadoh) and drummer Murph.
The original trio that made up the band set aside any lingering acrimony for a series of well-received albums, 2007's "Beyond", 2009's "Farm" and 2012's "I Bet on Sky"
Dinosaur Jr. is currently touring behind the new album, but found time for a special look back with the help of a number of musical guest stars.
The result was nearly two-and-a-half hours that provided testimony to how vital the band still is and how fresh their classic work remains. And all the while, the guest stars added, not distracted from the proceedings while showing off different elements that informed the band's work.
The occasion for the special show at Terminal 5 was a celebration of the band's "You're Living All Over Me" album, the band's first album to show them as a force and an influence.
The concert was split into two halves -- the first was a performance of that album in order and nearly in its entirety. The second half was a series of other songs from the band's career along with some covers as the special guests appeared more frequently.
The one constant in the band's history is laconic guitar hero/anti-hero J Mascis, whose combination of the air of slackerish indifference combined with loud, listen-to-me guitar wankery defined a lot of the band's sound and sensibility. Not to mention that he was and remains the key songwriter. Even with Barlow much more established as a writer, Mascis carries the bulk of the writing credits post-reunion.
Mascis was his usual self, tossing out minimal stage banter, but plenty of shredworthy solos, fuzzy noise and general heroics.
Just two guest stars appeared in the album performance part of the set. Suzanne Thorpe, known for her work with Mercury Rev, played flute on the non-"Living" track "Thumb" and ex-Sonic Youth member Lee Ranaldo who took lead vocals on the second song of the night, "Little Fury Things."
The original album (and it's follow-up "Bug", for that matter) were often abrasive, edgy affairs whose production made them even edgier.
In a live setting, the songs from the album (minus only its cover of the Cure's "Just Like Heaven", sadly) gained depth. The band members, now all in their mid-to-late 40s, have enough years behind them to make up in power for the youthful edginess no longer there.
Barlow periodically thanked the packed crowd for "coming to our special show,"
At one point, Mascis said, "All right. Thanks a lot. That was side one."
Almost deadpan acknowledgements of the crowd aside, the band showed off a solid chemistry and its appreciation could be seen in the smiles that popped up, particularly on Barlow's and Murph's faces.
Barlow closed off the "Living" portion alone with "Poledo," which he not inaccurately described as the "awkward ending to amazing album" (though more because the song sounded like a dry run for some of the terrain he'd explore in Sebadoh).
With the Barlow-and-ukulele number out of the way, it was time to start bringing out the guest stars in earnest.
Frank Black of Dino's Boston-based compatriots (and masters of the earlier-in-the decade nostalgic cash grab faux-reunion tour) Pixies came out first.
He joined the band for a "Almost Fare", one of the songs off the new album before tearing into a ripping version of the Pixies "Tame" (it's not as if his old band sucked on that cash-grab tour, after all).
Opening act Kurt Vile was the next guest, giving Mascis a second guitarist to play off of in a wanktastic guitar showcase with Al Cisneros of Speed on bass and Kyle Spence of Harvey Milk sitting in on drums.
Barlow and Murph returned for "Don't Pretend You Didn't Know" and "Watch the Corner" before it was time for the next of the next big name alt-rock heroes to come on stage.
Johnny Marr, whose excellent guitar work helped make the Smiths the seminal band they were and has worked with all sorts of people in the 20-plus years since, came on stage, as did Kevin Drew of that Canadian musical conglomerate Broken Social Scene.
Drew took lead vocals on "The Wagon" (from 1991's "Green Mind") and a cover of the Smiths' "The Boy With The Thorn In His Side" that translated well enough, even if it was a departure from the jangling swooniness of the original.
The group followed by going deeper into its history to a cover of "Training Ground", a song from Deep Wound, the hardcore band Barlow and Mascis were in as teenager.
Guest stars were overlapping by this point, as Dale Crover of the Melvins handled the drums on the Smiths and Deep Wound covers, thus marking the only time those three bands have been in the same sentence.
One of the striking things about the evening was the fact that things were mostly free of glitches, outside of one instance where Barlow had to be brought back from offstage because he didn't realize he was singing lead vocal on a song. All involved generally deftly handled the changing faces.
The next contemporary to arrive was Don Fleming, who worked a bit with the band in its immediate post-Barlow days. Fleming delivered more hardcore, this time with lead vocals on a cover of DC hardcore band Iron Cross' "Crucified."
Following up two hardcore songs was the most intense guest star of the evening.
One of Kim Gordon's real strengths in Sonic Youth was her ability to pull of quiet cool and raging intensity, depending on the song,
Saturday's appearance from Gordon was all the latter, as she brought to life to "Don't." A song that seemed more of a listener endurance test in its recorded incarnation on "Bug" was much better in Gordon's hands.
With no concessions to age, Gordon ripped through the song with vocal cord-shredding fervor.
Even if the song did drag on a bit past its natural end point, it was one of the evening's highlights and a perfect way to end the main set.
It wasn't an end to the evening, however, as a rather interesting lineup took the stage. Mascis took his normal spot with guitar, but a whole bevy of new faces joined him. There was Tommy Stinson of the classic Replacements and the not-so-classic Axl Rose-hired backing band calls Guns N Roses these days on bass. On drums? Fred Armisen, known more for these as a performer on "Saturday Night Live" and "Portlandia" but who started out as a punk drummer. On vocals was rock veteran John Petkovic of Cobra Verde and the more recent Sweet Apples (a project with Mascis and others).
This was no alt-rock Asia, as the foursome delivered an energetic version of the Stooges' "TV Eye" with Petkovic bounding about the stage as usual.
With all of the guest star highlights, this was still a Dinosaur Jr. show after all and the original trio finished the night together with two classics from years gone by.
First, "Start Choppin", the "Where You Been" track that was one of the band's catchiest and one of the closest things to a hit they had. It retained its catchy punch.
To wrap things up, the band wisely went with "Freak Scene," arguably the band's high point on record.
The song so deftly captured either the messiness of a relationship between two people or within a music scene..or maybe both.
A line in the last verse goes, "Just don't let me fuck up will you?/Cause when I need a friend it's still you."
On a rare night with so much and so varied talent onstage, the band and its guests produced music that was never less than good and was quite stellar more often than not.
Rest assured, Dinosaur Jr. didn't fuck up and left the house with 3,300 friends who'd been highly entertained and filed out of Terminal 5 grateful for the opportunity to witness a historic night where the living history was very much alive.
Sunday, December 2, 2012
X With Reverend Horton Heat -- Irving Plaza, Manhattan, Nov. 30, 2012
Due to circumstances beyond my control, I was unable to see the show with THE seminal LA punk band along with the road-tested veterans Rev. Horton Heat and Co.
In lieu of that, enjoy Rock 'Em Sock Em Robots!
In lieu of that, enjoy Rock 'Em Sock Em Robots!
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