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Due to a myspace-related error (it said doors open at 8), we managed to completely miss No Through Road. We have seen them before and they’re always entertaining, so we have no doubt in our minds that they rocked this evening. Check out their album Winner, it’s a great piece of Adelaide indie rawk. But to be completely honest, we only had eyes for one band this evening: Dinosaur Jr. Dougie has been a fan for years, and managed to catch them on the Without a Sound tour, which was of course without drummer Murph or bassist/vocalist Lou Barlow. It was fantastic nonetheless, but he was nowhere near as excited back then as he was after walking into Fowlers and seeing the Wall Of Amps.

Dinosaur Jr long ago perfected the art of shoegazer grunge, and it’s funny how after over more than 20 years of touring and playing J Mascis still manages to look like a shy, awkward teenager with a guitar. Part of the Wall of Amps was devoted to a sort of sub-structure in which Mascis resided within a comforting cocoon of noise; a soft downy blanket of guitar. Grandma’s quilt if it were constructed of effects pedals AND WAS REALLY LOUD. We had a great spot where only one of his many Marshalls were pointed at us. It’s always hard to get a nice clear mix in the Fowlers live room at the best of times, but after a muffled start the mixer rolled it in glitter and made it sparkle, so to speak. Jayney said she’d never disparage the 3-piece as an art form ever again—not every trio has 4 or 5 guitar amps helping to plump the fluffy pillows of noise, however.

They opened with Tarpit, and (hardly surprisingly) it was loud, even with earplugs! We then of course noticed why: the members of Dinosaur Jr were wearing earplugs now, which of course meant their amps were turned out even louder! But if you go into a Dinosaur Jr gig expecting to have any hearing left, well then you’re dreamin’. And it’s no use shouting at the mixer about it, buddy, BECAUSE HE CAN’T HEAR YOU.

The setlist consisted of a handful of tracks from most of their recording history, even including post-Lou and post-Murph songs. The Wagon, from 1991’s Green Mind, was a personal highlight. Feel the Pain, the band’s closest thing they have to a ‘hit’ (although that could be debatable, especially compared to Freak Scene, which they also played), sounded disjointed, and neither Lou or Murph appeared to really be giving it their all. This was only one brief hiccup in an otherwise flawless set.

While on the surface J. Mascis can seem aloof and disinterested—gazing at his shoes, not chatting to the audience—his stage-carpet-directed exterior, or metaphorical comfort blankie (if you will), hides a raw force of energy that somehow transcends the almost-statue up on the stage and, like the shy kid with a guitar we suspect he remains to this day, it is his playing that is the expressive, eloquent, romantic, energetic and outgoing side of him. It was a bloody good set, in short, from a man who on the outside seemed not to be moving!

Set highlights for these two bass playing reviewers were curly-haired Muppet Lou Barlow’s songs. Lou gave a quite aggressive version of Imagination Blind, which was possibly only so he could be heard over the guitars. It was harder to hear Lou’s vocals unfortunately, but it’s always a risk, especially considering the cocoon of noise was pointed in his general direction. The absolute highlight of the evening was the encore: Dougie never dared to ever dream he would ever hear a live rendition of Forget the Swan, and certainly not one played with such vibrancy, such relevance, 25 years later. After wiping away a tear, the band ended with with In a Jar, leaving these humbled reviewers speechless for several days. Who would’ve thought they’d get better with age?

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