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an extended (but not too enthusiastic) review of the J & the Fog show in Charlottesville on Feb. 13th, 2003:
Virginia Law Weekly (a pdf document)
Rock the PHA-KHAN! Live Music Review by Laurie Ripper
"J. Mascis is God," the cover of Spin magazine heralded when I was at a particularly impressionable age, especially regarding rock-and-rollers who fronted cool bands like Dinosaur Jr. and hung out with people from even cooler bands like Sonic Youth. Like so many other fearless leaders of dearly departed seminal rockbands who have gone on to pursue solo careers – notably Steven Malkmus (Pavement front man and U.Va. alum), Frank Black (Black Francis of the Pixies), and Jonathan Richman (Modern Lovers) – J.Mascis’s past-his-prime status brought him to Starr Hill Music Hall last Thursday night. And he brought Ben Lee with him!
That little rascal who all those years ago sang about Evan Dando on "Wish I Was Him" with the band Noise Addict on the Beastie Boys’ record label Grand Royal – so you know they’re legit. When I heard J. would be gracing our small town with his presence, I felt compelled to go. Com-pelled in that way that you feel about maintaining contact with your high school friends, even though you don’t have anything in commonany more, because they once meant so much to you.
Not having a penny to my name, I set to work to win tickets off the radio, which was quickly accomplished – thanks, WNRN! The best thing about winning tickets – other than the free part – is that they put your name on the guest list, so when you arrive everyone will think you’re with the band. Ben Lee was playing when I arrived and I couldn’t help but notice the stage was surrounded by a half-moon of doe-eyed young girls, looking dreamily up at him. The man defines the word "a-dork-able," what with his untamable curly hair and charming Australian accent. I must admit I spent most of his set staring at him, thinking, "I cannot believe this guy used to date Claire Danes."
I emerged from my thought cloudwhen Lee busted into the Cars’ "Just What I Needed" in the midst of one of his own songs, which I could tell you the name of if I were a halfway decent concert-reviewer. Forgetting the lyrics, he pulled a fan up on stage who surprised herself and ev-eryone in the crowd with how badher voice was. After a few screechy bars, Lee tactfully told her, "Thanks,I’ll take it from here," and sent her back into the crowd. He finished his set by stepping away from the mic and singing his sweet little heart out sans amplification, which always gets me right there.
The best thing by far about Starr Hill is that there’s no backstage, so after the show the musicians, instead of disappearing, have to walk through the crowd to get to the green room. The green room shares the hall with the bathroom, giving you the perfect excuse to loiter around until your favorite semi-star emerges. This gave us ample opportunity to harass the young Mr. Lee and his short-yet-luscious right-hand man.
The worst thing about Starr Hill, at least that night, was that the upstairs bar was cash-only. Being one who can never manage to keep cash on hand and refuses on principle to pay those god-awful ATM fees, this required me to trek down-stairs and wait with the rest of the non-concert-going riff-raff everytime I wanted to get a beer.
When I finally re-ascended, the wee lasses had cleared out to make room for big guys wearing various combinations of intentionally nerdy glasses, frat-astic baseball caps, and flannel shirts. And J. Mascis was onstage, looking more like Ozzy Osbourne than even Ozzy himself. [
FC]Some people were headbanging, some girls were doing that generic dance that does duty for every genre known to man, and others were just doing the standing still. Mascis played a lot of his old stuff, but after about five songs I realized I just wasn’t into it anymore. The saving grace came in theform of a cover of The Cure’s "Just Like Heaven." You know the part where Robert Smith sings "You, soft and only. You, lost and lonely…"?Well, if you can imagine the "You" parts being screamed violently at the top of the bassist’s lungs, you can get a good feel for what the cover was like.
You know what? I learned something that night. While I admired J.’s mad guitar skills and still respect him as a musician, I realized that I could no longer hold him up as my lord and savior, even though Spin magazine had told me to, all those years ago.
"oh my god theyre playing that song.. by that band.. what is it again.. the cure? i cant believe they cover this.. oh man and the bass players screaming… this is crazy…"
here’s another review http://www.notsopop.com/reviews/music/jmascislive20030213.html”>http://www.notsopop.com/reviews/music/j … 30213.html
that’s a much nicer review than the first one in this thread, and it’s cool to see some more pics of the Charlottesville show (although they’re a bit blurry – but it’s a nice thought that this came from the bass vibrations
)in case it should disappear from the net sooner or later, I’ll copy it here:
J Mascis and the Fog – Live 2/13/03
As soon as I heard about this show, I knew I was going. Nothing was going to stop me. There was no way I could pass up the chance to see modern guitar legend and hero of 80’s alternative rock, J Mascis. Even though I was pretty sure it wouldn’t sell out, I went out and got my ticket as soon as possible to ensure my place in the presense of the ex-Dinosaur Jr. frontman.
There was one opening act, a British guy I had never heard of named Ben Lee. He had a few originals but the audience was obviously not that interested. When he asked what the crowd wanted to here, someone yelled back "J Mascis!" After a passionate Sinead O’Connor cover, his time was up and people started moving towards the stage. I first truly realized what I was in for when I noticed everyone around me was putting in ear plugs. That, combined with the fact that he had a Marshall full stack in Starr Hill, was enough to convince me to go to the bathroom and grab some paper.
Mascis and the Fog, which was bassist Matt Hunter and drummer George Berz, took the stage about fifteen minutes later. Mascis broke out his Fender Jazzmasters, checked his amps, fooled around with his massive effects board, and then the show started with a Dino classic, "The Lung." It was about halfway through this song that I realized I in fact did need earplugs and put the paper in. I can honestly say it’s the loudest concert I’ve ever heard with the possible exception of a few acts on Warped Tour. The bass was absolutely bone-shattering. At one point I though my knees were going to give out. The building shook and the world spun. Mascis’s guitar solos cut like a knife and he was solid throughout, and it was pretty funny to watch because he was pretty mellow the whole time.
The set was mainly tunes off the latest Fog album, Free So Free. A few songs I remember: "Freedom," "Free So Free," and "Tell the Truth." There were also a few Dino songs; the two I immediately recall being "The Lung," which I mentioned before, and "Little Fury Things." They also played the Cure’s "Just Like Heaven," at an audience member’s request. Speaking of the audience, there were some interesting incidents. Someone threw a "Beer" hat on stage apparently in hopes of Mascis wearing it. He didn’t. Then during "Just Like Heaven," some random guy came out of nowhere, got up on stage, tried to sing, then hastily left, unplugging Hunter’s bass mid-song as he did so.
All in all, the show was excellent. Everything I had hoped for. The only problem I noticed was that Mascis’s voice was almost inaudible half the time. Oh, and I probably would be deaf if it wasn’t for ear plugs. Anyway, time to wrap this up. I’d recommend the show to Dino fans and anyone into really loud rock music.
Oh yeah, I got a few pics but most of them are a little blurry. Don’t know if it’s because of me or the bass vibrations
thanks … those pix were pretty cool
… i liked no 8 w/j and matt and also the one of george the best …i think the shaky image problem was more a case of the shutter speed being too slow … if it was a point-and-shoot and the light wasn’t very good, then i’m not sure there was much he/she could have done to prevent that (except next time buy a higher speed of film !!
) … but it was a cool effect anyhow … especially on the one w/george b/c you could see the vibration of the cymbal and the action of the drum sticks pretty well 
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