Despite my increasing feeling that the band needs to take a break and recharge after these past few years of constant touring, I have to say that they were as good as I’ve ever seen them last night. They’ve definitely settled into a deep groove, and J rarely — if ever, except when he’s getting ready to end a solo — looks off to his left, but he doesn’t have to, since Lou and Murph are locked in so damn tight. The set was:

Thumb
In A Jar
(from here it’s out of order)
Swan
Get Me
Pieces
Plans (which sounded amazing — J seemed the most into playing this one)
Over It
Imagination Blind
Back to Your Heart
I Want You to Know
Wagon
Feel the Pain
Freak

Encore:
Heaven
The Lung

It looked like J and Lou were getting ready to play I Don’t Wanna Go There to end the main set, but Murph jumped up and pointed at the obnoxious digital clock on the stage, which evidently showed that they were getting close to cut-off time.

(When the fuck did that start happening, by the way? It seems like shows in most venues these days have curfews — back in the day [to pull the old man card], bands played for however long they felt like playing. Why is fun these days so totally regulated straight up the goddamn ass?)

J looked momentarily confused, then suddenly said "Thank you, good night" and walked off with Murph, leaving Lou standing there wondering what just happened. While I could’ve done without Just Like Heaven (which, along with Freak Scene, has replaced Feel the Pain on my "must be deep-sixed" list), the version of The Lung they ended the show with was ferocious.

The band looked well rested, and J’s playing and singing were totally spot-on. I like how Lou for this tour is locked in tight with Murph on stage, hanging next the drums for basically the whole show. It’s like a comfortable acknowledgement of the Dino dynamic: J and his Marshall mountain being supported by Lou and Murph (who played great too — he was really hammering away and throwing in lots of great fills all night). Something about it visually screams "team-work!" to me.

Lou and the Missingmen were good. Sensitive indie boy stuff isn’t my bag, but the breezy countrified style of a lot of the songs was both a sonic contrast to the Dino assault that would follow, and a stylistic bridge. The relative mellowness of the set, though, makes it seem (to me, anyway) more suited to a sit-down venue with cafe tables than a beer-swilling standing crowd that’s waiting to be blown away. The crowd finally took to it by the end, though. But it did take a while (for me too, honestly).

So, overall, a great show. I’ll see them once more in Minneapolis, and then that might be it for a while. Unless, of course, they just keep going like the Energizer bunny.