Context: This was written after I had decided to try the writing thing again but before I decided what to do with the pieces after they had been written. This may seem dated since the shows were a few months ago but please keep in mind that these are exercises to see if the machinery still works.
It has been an interesting month or so
that has made Pittsburgh almost feel like a real town. Quicksand,
Against Me!, Boris and Dinosaur Jr. have all been through town over
the course of the past four weeks.
For me this was a big deal. Since the
local music scene seems to be hiding under a rock, or only appears
when I'm not looking, being spoiled for choice was an odd occurrence. When all of these shows were announced, I almost decided not to go
to them. I have grown tired of the crowds that come along with live
music in Pittsburgh. There are only so many times I can handle
someone drunkenly screaming out, “Go, Local Sports Team!!!”
during a band's performance.
All four shows were at the same venue,
Mr. Smalls Funhouse. Since they started serving food in the
upstairs, I've started getting to the shows early to grab something
to eat. They sling a mean burger and I am a sucker for it.
First up was Quicksand. I went with
the bacon cheeseburger with a side of hummus and pita. Going to see the reformed line up of
Quicksand had me worried. Given the fact that their previous shows
since the reunion have all been at various festivals, I wasn't sure
what to expect. In some instances bands will get back together for
festivals because the promoter will make an offer they'd be stupid to
refuse. Then they walk through their greatest hits and call it a day
until the next big offer comes in. I don't fault these bands for
this but if you're going to do it, then do it. Walking through a set
for nostalgia dollars is disrespectful to the audience and, more
importantly, to the music.
Quicksand's two albums, Slip and
Manic Compression,
figure prominently in my brain
pan so I was overly concerned that the images in my head were in
danger of being sullied. Within seconds of Walter Schriefels
taking the stage, I knew we were all in for a special evening. The
band hit it and hit it hard. And more importantly, it looked like
they were all having fun while playing. They would play tricks on
the audience by starting the intro to Land Mine Spring and then go
into another song as the crowd was primed and ready for it.
This was in stark contrast to when I
saw Walter's other band, Rival Schools, a few years ago. It was
towards the end of the tour and the band seemed to be imploding on
itself. The guitar player left the band, for the second time, after
realizing that he was in band and might have to go on tour. The
remaining members held it together and went out as a three piece. Rival Schools was great that night but you could tell they all knew
it was the end of the line and they weren't having a good time
playing with that knowledge. Shortly after the tour, they went into
the studio and recorded six or seven songs but sputtered out
somewhere along the way and the songs never saw the light of day.
Quicksand seems to be doing things
backwards these days. The tour was announced before the new album
was announced and the release date of the album was after the tour
which puts the band at a disadvantage when it comes to taking dollars
off of folks at the merch table. But given the history of the band,
I think they're doing it the Quicksand way.
A week later, Against Me! passed
through town. I went with the cheeseburger minus the bacon.
Laura Jane Grace and the rest of the
band finally seem to be coming into their own. After two albums and
several shows with the current line up, things are settling in to
where they have an opportunity to do something similar to Bob Dylan's
never ending tour. They ended up playing a lot of songs from
Reinventing Axl Rose because
they were planning to play the album from end to end at this year's
Fest, in Florida, and needed to get the songs back into shape.
The band has a very loose swagger to
them these days. To the point where it sounds like the wheels might
fall off a song at any time but they're tight enough to hold it down. Against Me! is nothing but pure punk rock fun from beginning to end. The band was all smiles and I swear the bass player is the long lost
love child of Dee Dee Ramone and Lemmy, right down to the
Rickenbacker.
Unlike some folks, I could care less
about Laura Jane's identity and transition or whatever you want to
call it. If you front a band that's that good, you could be the
goddamned Purple People Eater for all I care. Although at this
point, I'm sure the more discerning fashion punkers gave up on
Against Me! because the crowd sizes have grown beyond that of a
basement show. And I will say that it is really weird to see the
drunk frat boy jocks that normally go to shows to beat up people
smaller than they are belting out the lyrics to True Trans Soul
Rebel. I'm not sure but that might be considered progress of some
sort.
Next up was the face melting, Japanese
metal heavyweights Boris. Back to the bacon cheeseburger.
I was the second person in line when
the doors opened so I could order my food, slam it down and then take
my usual spot behind the soundboard. When I got up the stairs, I saw
there were already three people in line putting in food orders. My
first thought was “Who are these assholes and how did they get in
front of me?” Once my eyes adjusted to the dim lighting I knew
exactly who those assholes were. It was Boris placing their
post-soundcheck food order. I said hello and thank you to the band
for coming through town because I'm still not sure how Pittsburgh
ended up on their schedule.
The band Helms Alee was one of the
openers. I'm not sure what happened to this band but they have
gotten much better than when I saw them open for the Melvins last
year. Although I was in a pretty shitty mood at that Melvins show so
it might have just been me.
Boris caused so much low end rumble
throughout the venue that it gave me a sneezing fit because my
nostrils were vibrating from it. They are a band that could be
considered an equivalent to classical music. There are movements
with ups and downs in their music and they effectively use silence as
a weapon. So when the drunken slack-jawed yocal would exclaim,
“Woooooo,” during every quiet moment he would effectively ruin
the transition to the next movement. Way to go moron. Save it for
the football game, dipshit.
They played their new album Dear
front to back which was brain crushing. I have come very close to
melting my house while listening to that LP. It was funny to hear
the youths outside, before the show, wondering if they should wear
earplugs or not. It would be a mistake that they'll pay for in
twenty years if they didn't.
Boris
played Farewell, from the Pink
album, to close the show. Given the fact that the band almost hung it
up instead of releasing Dear,
I think it was a fitting goodbye and this tour is their victory lap
before they move on to bigger, better and louder things.
Two nights later,
it was Dinosaur Jr. It was the last night of the tour so there was a
definite scent in the air of zero fucks being given. To give my
arteries a break, I went with the veggie wrap with blue cheese
crumbles instead of the burger. Good choice.
I went to high
school with the house sound engineer and he reports that Boris broke
one of the PA speakers. It took most of the previous day to lower
the string of speakers from the ceiling, make the repairs and get the
string back in place before the internet-teen pop sensation played
the night before. Needless to say, he was not happy about all of the
extra work. My only response was, “Yep, they'll do that.” When
I saw Boris at the Grog Shop in Cleveland last year, it felt like the
walls were going to cave in.
Easy Action, from
Detroit, opened. The singer of the band is John Brannon from
Negative Approach and Laughing Hyenas. He is a through and through
punk rock/hardcore legacy. I saw them back in March when they played
with Dinosaur Jr. at the Beachland Ballroom, also up in Cleveland, and
I was instantly a fan. The Pittsburgh crowd hated Easy Action to the
point it was funny. This bunch of lightweights couldn't handle the
band. Between every song there were shouts of, “You suck!!!,”
and the like.
No one seemed to
remember that Dinosaur Jr. couldn't get arrested in their younger
days and ended up playing a lot of shows with hardcore bands such as
Negative Approach. When putting this tour together of course
Dinosaur Jr. would want to take out a band that they are friends
with. I guess some people were expecting a Dave Mathews cover band
to be the opener. I don't know what these people were thinking and
how they weren't able to stomach a straight up rock 'n' roll band.
Dinosaur Jr. came
out and did their thing. A smattering of new songs mixed in with the
greatest hits. I'm of the opinion that they should drop the old
songs and stick to tracks from the four new albums. But that's just
me. I'm sure they'd be crucified if they didn't play Freak Scene. As much as I enjoy the old records, forward movement is always more
interesting to me.
To play Left/Right
from Give A Glimpse of What Yr Not, J and Lou switched
instruments. The band is at the point where they do what they want,
audience be damned, and it was great to hear J play bass. They also
have an extra drum kit and guitar/amp set up. The drum and guitar
techs come out and play on The Wagon to make things louder than they
already are. It was wild to see the drum tech keep time with Murph
and the song somehow didn't fall apart.
The encore is
where the night took a glorious wrong turn for the crowd. Dinosaur
Jr. came back out and played an audience request and then John
Brannon came back out and grabbed the mic. To my surprise and great
delight they played a few Negative Approach songs which led to the
audience booing and throwing things. They closed out the show with
T.V. Eye, by the Stooges, with Dan on vocals. It was quite the scene
to behold watching J. Mascis throw down on those Ron Asheton riffs.
Again, the crowd had no idea what they were witnessing and reacted
with more booing and went home feeling dejected. J and company did
not seem very animated until they hit those Negative Approach songs. They suddenly came to life and pushed all of the air out of the room
but the dumb ass crowd couldn't put together that they were seeing
something really special. Always remember, if it's the last night of
the tour, expect something out of the ordinary. Like Dinosaur Jr.
manhandling one of the greatest rock 'n' roll songs ever committed to
tape.
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