Review Auckland May 17

[ruethewhirl]

Warning: J was seated during the gig, so if you want to see J’s
fretwork, make sure you get to the front early. I was stuck at
the back for about the first 1/4, and all I could see was the top
of J’s head.

Gig was a kind of acoustic, but every now and then J would stomp
on a distortion pedal and blast our eardrums. Earplugs recommended!
The guitar solo on Alone must have been at least 10 minutes long.

During encore playing of the Wagon, a string broke on J’s guitar.
J stoppped playing and took out another guitar, which unfortunately
was untuned. J tuned it and picked up the song from we he stopped.

J seemed kind of sedate (jetlagged?) and there was almost no between song patter. Basically just hi and bye. I saw Dinosaur play at the Town Hall about 5 years ago, and J looked visibly older this time. Maybe it
was just the lighting, but J’s hair is almost solid grey now. A shy wave
to the crowd, the obligatory "thanks a lot" and that was it.

Galatos was a terrific venue, I was about three metres from J for about
1/2 the gig, compared to the Town Hall gig where the demarcation
beween band and and crowd was much more defined. J actually had to
walk thru the crowd kind of, to leave the stage.

[FlyingCloud]

hey ruethewhirl, thanks a lot for the review, sounds like it was a great show

10 minutes solo on Alone – must have been a wonderful version! and it also looks like he handled the broken string during the Wagon professionally
but usually he doesn’t talk much during his shows

[Bucky Ramone]

Sounds like a great show!

Thanks for the review, ruethewhirl, and welcome on board!

[frunobulax]

I was privileged to be at the same Auckland show. I am from Melbourne and I had to pinch myself to believe I was seeing a guy of this stature in a lovely, intimate venue like the Galatos. I was 10 metres from the man but could have been as close as 2 metres if I had wanted to be. He just walked out on stage, sat down and fiddled with his powerboard, pedals etc for about 10 minutes. It was like we were 200 people looking through his living room window. Although he did not say much, I expected it – his music speaks his mind – stage banter is not the guy’s style. He is public reservation is touching and only adds to the ma’s enormous character. His 10 minute solo on Alone was one of the best things my ears have witnessed. I do not think I have been excited by a solo so much since Hendrix’s "Machine Gun". The power and emotion was incredible. I can concur with "The Wagon" string breaking incident – once again it was if we were looking through his window as he just methodically set up his next guitar, tuned it, and started playing where he left off. I was in hysterics and blown away at the same time. If I had the money, I would not be wasting my time here at my computer. I would be in my car driving down to Wellington for his gig tonight. Any Kiwis out there – get your arses down to the Bodega Bar tonight. A major lifetime experience awaits you

[Bucky Ramone]

Hi frunobulax, thanks for the cool review and welcome on board!

[FlyingCloud]

great review, thanks a lot, frunobulax
I think the fiddling before a show is when J records some chords to loop them during the electric solos, so he’s able to accompany himself & fill the spaces

hope to read also some reviews of the Wellington show – which should be taking place about right now… (jealous!)

[expect nothing]

thanks for the reviews sounds like another great show – these recent shows seem to have been reaally good ones,

[drift]

I took a couple pix in Auckland can c here
I thought of Hendrix during that Alone solo too

[FlyingCloud]

hey drift, thanks a lot for the pics
… looks like he has been sitting in the middle of the crowd

[ruethewhirl]

The insightful Herald review of the evening can be read here:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/entertainmentstorydisplay.cfm?storyID=3502581&thesection=entertainment&thesubsection=music&thesecondsubsection=reviews”>http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment … on=reviews

[expect nothing]

drift, thanks for those pictures – looks like a goood site
and i agree about J looking like he’s in the middle of the crowd he seems really close to the crowd at that show

The Herald review is a reaally good one, thanks for the link.

"Mascis – with long stringy hair and geek glasses, he looked like a slacker physics graduate – alternated between his gorgeous ballads and some sky-scaling guitar drama, often within the same song. " :aliensmile:

[FlyingCloud]

hey ruethewhirl, thanks for the link! that’s a fine review

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