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"arleach " wrote:As far as material goes, I don’t think they’ve played much at all off Bug the whole tour. And FWIW, J happens to think that "Bulbs" is one of, if not the, BEST songs they ever did.
Not that I participate on this forum much but I was on the Dino J listserv for a couple years in the mid 90s (circa 94-95). If you remember a guy who transcribed maybe a couple dozen songs, who was taking requests, that was me.
Never remember a request for this song. Pong Song? Yes.
Isn’t the point of reunion shows to please the fans who weren’t there to see them way back when? I might be nutso here but I always got the impression Bug was right behind Whatever for the serious fans…
I believe if you appreciate your fans you do what you can to make the best out of a bad situation.
Soma sound sucks = turn down for chrissakes.
The crowd was mostly motionless (I mean no swaying/bobbing, lotsa folks standing straight up with their arms folded), the applause always sounded polite. I noticed people leaving as early as the third song. Before the encore it had thinned out quite a bit.
Again I can not stress this enough – the whole experience was a polar opposite of the Fog show I saw last year. People were grooving big time. I dunno, maybe that was a more hardcore fan base at the show, but you would think differently for the folks coming out for the original lineup.
You can justify this any which way you want. I was let down big time.
When I say "go for broke" I mean I think they kinda had a ‘screw it’ attitude toward the performance and were flubbing alot cause no one probably could tell the difference or maybe they couldn’t themselves. Kinda like the Beatles did just before they stopped touring, cause the fans were so deafingly loud they took it as a joke.
The problem wasn’t like a high treble content so much as it was like being trapped inside a improperly ported bass enclosure. It was this murky mush of sound where I could hardly make out anything, yet at the same time it wanted to rip my ears cleanly off my head.
As Hextall said the show was pretty short, I swear most the songs were from the first album and their EPs and not so much stuff from Living/Bug. EDIT: in retrospect it seems they may have covered at least half of Living… but I do feel Bug deserves equal weight, IMO. Don’t get me wrong, I love songs like Whatever’s Cool w/Me, Just Like Heaven… and things like Bulbs of Passion and Forget the Swan are kitschy fun trying to imagine these guys as teens. But like the Pixies getting back together (just saw a few weeks ago – absolutely, hearstoppingly unbelievable) these guys as this unit are legends, I want to hear their legendary material. It could very well be my only time.
It matters much to me cause I am a _huge_ fan… I put J up there with the likes of Hendrix, Morrison, etc. Hist show last year proved why he deserves to be in that echelon, and for that I am always greatful. The one last night though made me question my faith – Lou said something at the end of the set like "Thanks so much for coming out guys, we really appreciate it." I just didn’t buy it.
That was a fantastic show!
First off, I got there about 15 minutes before the band took stage. I walk in and there’s J setting up his rig, maybe 30 people are mulling about. He walks off into the crowd and nearly bumps into me. 10 minutes later he nearly bumps into me again. I wanted to say something, shake his hand, but he looked so preoccupied.
They take stage, I have my plugs in hand, he fiddles around a bit and then breaks into Get Me. Then my fav Dino tune, The Lung. In fact nearly half the set was golden oldies – Sludgefeast, Kracked, Freak Scene, Little Fury Things. I remember Free so Free, Freedom, The Wagon, Same Day, Alone, What Else is New, Ammaring. Maybe a few more, three Captain and Cokes later my memory went to fuzz.
Some observations
1) The volume wasn’t painfully loud. I left the plugs in my pocket. My ears aren’t ringing. He even turned down his amp a little during the 3rd or 4th song.
2) The performance was almost perfect. I mean like album perfect, his voice was on pitch, his rhythm playing impeccible, his guitar solos were note for note maybe 90% (he did go off on Alone), very few flubs. This was a surprise. From the clips I’ve heard on this forum, the Reverb show, and that show I went to a decade ago this performance was a stark contrast. Has J recently kicked a substance abuse problem?
3) Is his hair graying or did he try to dye it white?
I took some junky photos with my camera phone, if there a place to host here?
– Beau[/img]
Mine was pretty straightfoward – 10th grade PE class (this would be in ’92) there was a fellow guitarist and I who would jog the mile together… one time he went off about about J’s abilities and proclaimed them to be "the best band in existence".
Sorry OT – Fugazi is one of my faves… the summer of that year I was bagging groceries, some Leonardi Dicaprio looking SOB I worked with would blast Repeater in his car on smoke breaks and proclaimed them to be "the best band in existence".
Ah, salad days. – Beau
I’ll be at the San Diego show on the 12th. Anyone else, please contact me. All the free Marlboro lights you can huff (unless that’s more than 10 or so
)– Beau
Thanks guys!
I remember that concert in ’94 was _loud_. I woke up the next morning, my ears were ringing like a bell. Even the following day there was some residual. I sincerely believe maybe 5% of my upper end was lost due to that show, so ear plugs will be in tow this time around.
That night 10 years ago was also a pretty powerful one down memory lane… first week of college, one of the guys I went with – we ended up being best buds for the next couple years. And as we were leaving campus for the show the other guy had to stop to chat with a girl who ended up being my fiance a couple years down the road.
I got a crap camera phone, I’ll do my best with some fuzzy fisheye photos. The club is maybe only 2-300 capacity. 10 years ago it was a 3000 sellout a month in advance with all that MTV activity. Kinda cool to get to see him in such a low-key light.
– Beau
