Enormous riffs and stagediving – what more could you want?

Years ago, before I had heard any of their music, a friend described Dinosaur Jr. to me as “what you would get if you put Neil Young, Sonic Youth and amphetamines into a blender”. On hearing a handful of their records, I didn’t really understand the comparison – the production on their most famous record, 1987’s classic You’re Living All Over Me, was unique but muddy, too heavy on distortion. But seeing them in the live arena, the contrast is enormous. With no fewer than 11 huge Marshall amps lined up onstage, the initial signs were ominous, but the result was a pleasing mixture of crystal-clear sound quality and deafening noise that truly brought Dinosaur Jr.’s aesthetic to life.

Pacey, classic rock-sounding material from new album, last year’s I Bet On Sky, sits neatly alongside the more alternative tracks picked from their first three albums. Moody opener ‘See It On Your Side’ is the pick of the newbies, and classics like ‘Feel The Pain’ and ‘Start Choppin’ are rapturously received by those moshing down the front, quite amazing considering they may not have even been born when Dinosaur Jr. were in their heyday. Roughly halfway through, this turned into a stagediving free-for-all that the bouncers eventually gave up trying to contain. Prodigiously talented guitarist J Mascis coolly dispatches colossal riffs, and is kept anchored by the tight rhythm section of Lou Barlow and Murph. A well-deserved encore begins with their cover of The Cure’s ‘Just Like Heaven’, which morphs into ‘Sludgefeast’. Dinosaur Jr.’s live experience was quite simply breathtaking, the band displaying twice the energy and enthusiasm of many new bands.

9/10

Words: Ed Biggs