Wanna See Dinosaur Jr?

I know it's almost show time, but if you live in Winnipeg and it's before 6:30pm Monday May 28th, call me or leave a message. It seems I have an extra ticket as my concert partner is out of town and J canceled to go to a party instead. I've been hesitant to ask anybody as I know Dino Jr are an extremely loud band and may not be the preference of most over 30 year olds. As proof, I saw Dinosaur Jr 10 years ago in Minneapolis and it was a great ear-ringing show. I'll tell you J Mascis is probably one of the greatest living guitarists out there who has stayed true to his sound and if their new reunion album is any indication, they are better than ever.

Beyond was recorded with the original line-up consisting of Mascis, Lou Barlow and Murph. I think it's their most consistant, listenable album of their career and I would actually be happy to hear a lot of those songs tonight. Not many bands can reform and capture some of that magic from the past. According to Micheal Azerrad's book, Our Band could Be Your Life, the chapter on the early days of Dinosaur Jr details that there never really was any happy times. These guys hated each other, they fought physically and mentally between themselves, they had power struggles and they couldn't communicate with each other much like a dysfunctional family. They split up after only 3 albums until Mascis reformed the band without Barlow, who went onto (arguably) equal success with Sebadoh. As Mascis kept Dinosaur Jr running through the 90's they began to sound stale and somewhat boring, diluted might be a better term to describe they're last few albums. I don't know if the time, money, forgiveness or just a rejuvenated energy has brought them back together better than ever.

With that in mind, I gotta go to the show. So, If you want to see a bunch of guys in their forties rocking out louder than anything you've ever heard and reliving the 80's, get your earplugs and head to the Garrick. If everything goes to plan, I'll have some noise samples to share in the next few days.