Dinosaur Jr.
Dinosaur Jr. played at Summerstage last night. The weather behaved. But it was one of those days when you just have a feeling that it wasn’t going to be worth the trip uptown. We had cab problems, we couldn’t find a bar just to sit at and have a drink (don’t attempt it in the 70’s and Madison), I wasn’t feeling good. It just wasn’t meant to be. We were committed so we went.
I am a huge fan of J. Mascis. Martin and Me is a fantastic CD. Major air time for years in our house. I really rocked to early Dinosaur Jr. too. What happened?
Last night J. Mascis must have thought he was Ted Nugent. His blond hair straight and down his back flying all over the place while he just jammed out on his guitar. Every song sounded the same. I couldn’t make out any of the melodies so I wasn’t sure if he was playing music I was familiar with or not. It was a true bummer.
I turned to Fred and said "this is horrible, let’s go". He said, "no, let’s wait one more song and see.". Literally 2 seconds later, he says "you’re right, this sucks, let’s go".
Such a drag. I want those fine memories back of listening to Dinosaur Jr. Usually when I see a concert, the next morning I get up and put on the music. Not this morning. It will take me a few days, maybe a few months.
C’est la. It isn’t always what you expect. Sometimes recordings are much better than live and sometimes live music is better than the actual recording. I prefer when the concert finishes, it leaves you begging for more. Not in this case. Please turn it off!
Comments (Archived):
haha! You were in my neighborhood last night! Though we live way further east than that. We can barely afford our neighborhood full of old tenements as it is.
I know the feeling of wondering if it will be worth the trip, but for us, its downtown. 🙂
Sorry the concert did not live up to your expectations. I’m finding that to be one of the drawbacks to living in a city where all my favorites stop. It has happened where I am disappointed and it just isnt the same after that.
HI Joanne,
Isca and I went to the Dinosaur Jr. concert the other night. sorry we didn’t see you there. I have to say though I loved it. We went with a bunch of friends who all were major Dinosaur fans at some point or another and they all loved it too.
There were a few scary moments like when I saw a couple of kids from my highschool. Luckily I was able to duck away before they saw me. I thought that each song was better than the next. “The Lung” was probably my favorite song of the night and “just like heaven” was perfect durring the encore.
I felt like they were channeling Neil Young rocking and Black Sabbath.
It’s amazing to see how powerful a three piece can be. Lou Barlow’s bass sound was awesome ( so aggressive ) and made the opening band Broken Social Scene seem even more pathetic than when they were on stage. Three bass players and another one was missing because he had been arrested earlier in the day.
I am sorry you didn’t have a good time. Maybe you just weren’t feeling it. I have seen Dinosaur a few times ( last time was ten years ago) and Thursday night was the best. They lived up to everything I had been hoping for. Hope you guys are good and having a good summer otherwise.
I have seen them a few times, but not on this tour (unfortunately). Dinosaur has always been hit or miss — usually hit, though. I think setting helps a lot. Dinosaur Jr. is not an outdoor in the park band. It’s a small club with captive aural assault victimes type music.
Via Quadronno is the place to go for quick bite / drink / etc. – I have been following your blog for over a year now and think you would have really liked it –
25 E. 73rd St. (Upper East Side)
between Madison and Fifth Aves.
212-650-9880
viaquadronno.com
Dinosaur has never been good since Lou was kicked out in 1990/91 or whatever it was. The crap you’ve seen over the last ten-15 years was just crap. J = elmer fudd singing. I’m very jealous of the opportunity of seeing murph & lou with J again. I saw them back in the day and I doubt it would measure up though. So you pretty much should’ve went with an informed grain of salt. J sucks live. Lou can be hit and miss (many many tantrums over time) but he’s amazing and, dare i say, a genius (i’m a geeeenyus. I’m a…) but he is.