Mar 11, 2010 (14 years ago) Metro Theatre Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
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Dinosaur Jr. - Metro Theatre, 11 March, 2010
With barely a word of banter, Dinosaur Jr. issued a no-fuss, high-fuzz set of noise to Sydney.
Deaf Wish seemed an aptly named support for tonight and also described anyone who stood too close to the front left of the Metro where J Mascis' ominous tower of Marshalls loomed stacked on stage. It was a strange and diverse crowd ranging from over-excited teenagers (who naively shouted at the appearance of a baffled, long-haired roadie) to the slightly-tighter-than-when-new faded vintage tour t-shirt wearing long-time fans in close proximity to the bar and its products. But both parties and everyone in between were thoroughly captivated as one when Dinosaur Jr. casually strolled in and ripped into 'Thumb'.
The trio pretty much just kept to their designated section of the stage throughout, with barely even a glance of acknowledgement between each other. While a famously fractious band personality-wise, it is more so the fact that each member are so physically committed to concocting the colossus barrage of noise they don't have the scope to do anything else. Lou Barlow, who himself stood before a weighty stack of amps, berated his bass like he was cranking out power chords while dancing deftly from one shoeless foot to the other; while Mascis blandly stood upon his space-console that is his pedal board, conjuring the most stirring ruckus from his Jazzmaster. Murph was the stoic anchor in between, whose concise drum smashing acted as both a mediator and motivator, providing boundaries holding the noise all together, while at the same time pushing its other two makers right to the edge.
They are just so precise and driven by the force of the music they make, they almost don't seem to need us there at all, content to just feed off each other's sheer volume. We were all there though and got to witness a career-spanning set, with the Barlow-sung 'Imagination Blind' heading up the first of the four tracks from the band's latest album Farm, three of which bracket the mighty chug of 'Feel the Pain', which thankfully this time went off without any actual pain suffered by the band.
The set then traced back to their beginnings with 'Repulsion' off their debut, before the set closer and the encore, a triple-treat from You're Living All Over Me, with 'Sludgefeast' bringing a night of sheer musical power to an end and signalling the beginning of ear-ringing feast. And it just goes to show, you don't need banter or fanfare when your music is as delightfully potent as this.
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