The last time I saw Dinosaur Jr. in concert was during their initial 2005 reunion tour at the Showbox. It was one of the loudest concerts I’ve attended. So I walked into Sunday’s Dino J show at the same venue with a hankering to hear songs from Farm, the band’s excellent new album, while wondering whether it’s possible for J, Lou and Murph to get any louder.
After the band was through with its 75-minute set I definitely got a healthy dose of Farm material however, I really couldn’t tell you if Sunday was any louder than it was four years ago. But it will say it was pretty damn loud. How loud? The roadie was handing out earplugs to people in the front row before the band took the stage. Murph, the drummer, also handed out earplugs telling people “it’s going to get loud.” You know it’s going to get loud when the drummer says so.
J Mascis played in front of a massive stack of amps (11 amplifiers total) that towered over him and although Lou Barlow’s bass stack (which was a mere four amps) didn’t match Mascis’ in sound output, it did match Mascis’ gigantic tower of power in height. Dinosaur Jr. didn’t merely turn things up to 11; they cranked it up to 99 creating a pleasurably ear-assaulting wall of sound. I make it sound like a miserably loud experience, but it was actually quite the opposite. I left the Showbox with ringing ears (despite wearing earplugs and standing at the back of the room) and massive grin because I watched three reunited rockers tear it up like they never left the scene they helped mold in the 1990s.
The reunion thing is popular nowadays but the bands that make music after reuniting tend to do so poorly in an attempt to recapture their old glory. Does The Pixies’ “Bam Thwok” or Smashing Pumpkins’ “Zeitgeist” mean much to anyone? I didn’t think so. You see, Dinosaur Jr. is one of the few reunited 90s alt-rock bands that is making music of equal caliber of what they produced back in the day and Farm is easily one of the band’s best records, which is what made Sunday’s show so enjoyable. Songs like “I Want You To Know,” “Over It,” “Pieces” and “Plans” fit nicely alongside older songs like “Raisins” and “Freak Scene.”
Mascis, one of Generation X’s most underrated guitar gods, wasn’t much of a talker during the show. Instead he let his guitar speak for him. He seamlessly shifted from crunchy to squeally to squawky to fuzzy with Lou and Murph creating the rhythmic cage to contain the mammoth beast that was his highly-amplified ax.
Barlow did double duty Sunday with his new project Lou Barlow and the Missingmen playing a 45-minute set before the night’s headliners. While Dinosaur Jr. created a Jurassic-sized sound, Barlow and the Missingmen were more harmonious and less loud. They had more of a pop sound as opposed to a hard rock feel and my photographer friend Britteny Bush Bollay put it best when she said they sounded a little like Matthew Sweet. It was definitely unexpected.
Australian band Violent Soho was also on the bill. The headbanging three-piece tried hard but didn’t leave much of an impression.
Of note was the size of the crowd. I was disappointed to see half of the Showbox closed off due to what I assumed was poor attendance. The bar on the right side of the venue was blocked off and there were likely fewer than 500people in attendance. That is still a sizable crowd, but for a venue that fits more than 1,000 the show was noticeably empty. To be fair, it was a 21+ show on Sunday so that might account for the small crowd size.
