The Olivia Tremor Control
21.4.05 - The Garage, Islington
Having not collectively released a note of music since 2000's "Singles & Beyond" collection, and with various solo releases from both Will Cullen Hart's Circulatory System and Bill Doss's The Sunshine Fix, I was under the impression that the Olivia Tremor Control were no more. But with their classic "...Dusk at Cubist Castle" (it's THE modern-day White Album, folks!) lodged firmly in my Top 20, I've never been so ecstatic to have been proved wrong.

Tonight is a warm-up show before their stint at All Tomorrow's Parties, and I'm expecting weirdness in abundance. Nay, I demand it! So it's a promising hint of things to come when the band make their entrance by walking through the crowd, banging percussive instruments of all description before heading stage-ward and blasting off with "A New Day". For the next hour and a half, it's a frenetic scramble through the technicolour landscape of their back catalogue. Two minute blasts of fuzzed-up psychedelic pop are intermingled with cascading sheets of bleeping, chattering, random noise. Flutes, violins, xylophones and even a susaphone are deployed throughout the evening - at one point we are even treated to the sight of a band member abusing a banjo with an oven grill! Set this to some of the best visuals I've seen at a gig (and that includes The Flaming Lips and Cornelius) and it's like all my Christmas's have come at once.

Cullen Hart (the one with the greasy comb-over who looks like he's on the verge of a nervous breakdown) chatters inaudibly into the mic and sings the more abrasive material, while Doss serves up slice after slice of wishful dream-pop. I've enjoyed their respective solo offerings but surely no-one could argue that the OTC is far more than the sum of its parts. When they leave the stage I'm still hungry for more (a rare feeling these days) - let's hope their reunion extends as far as the studio.

Dinosaur Jnr
8.6.05 - The forum, Kentish Town
If karma exists then J Mascis is the living proof. Having driven his bandmates to the edge of a nervous breakdown with his aloofness and non-communicative ways, it's somehow fitting that, despite being a year shy of 40, he looks a helluva lot older. Wearing a foul lime-green shirt (fashion was never Mascis's strong point) and with nose poking through a curtain of long, silvery hair, he resembles some kind of rock and roll grandmother. If this is the by-product of playing at ridiculous volume for 20 years then excuse me whilst I turn my amp down. Bassist Lou Barlow and drummer Murph, meanwhile, look pretty buff for a pair of guys both approaching middle-age. Like I said, karma.

Considering this was a band that ended up with its respective members either trying to hit each other with their instruments (Mascis), playing badly on purpose just to get a reaction (Barlow), or just rolling their eyes at the whole sorry spectacle (Murph), and that the 16 years of bad feeling that followed made a reunion of the Jimi Hendrix Experience a more likely prospect, the level of awesomeness Dino Jr achieve tonight is nothing short of revelatory.

With Mascis having plodded on with a stream of hired hands (Barlow was kicked out in '89, Murph left in a huff in the mid-nineties) before calling it a day in '97 (the first and last time I saw them play), tonight is the first time I can truly appreciate Dino Jr as a band of individuals playing off each other (and creating some serious sparks in the process) rather than as a mere vehicle for J's fretboard indulgences. Tonight he attacks his guitar with renewed vigour while Lou and Murph lock on and keep any excesses in check. And the great thing is how much they all seem to be enjoying themselves.

Naturally, this being the original line-up, the set-list is comprised of tracks taken from the first three albums (shout-outs for later material which are unsurprisingly ignored). Most of the classic "You're Living All Over Me" gets an airing, although "Bug" is somewhat unrepresented with only "No Bones", "Budge" and "Freakscene" making an appearance. The latter naturally causes the mosh-pit to erupt, with Mascis making his guitar shriek like a banshee. Lou only gets to sing three or four songs and none of them include "Lose", one of only two songs he penned while in the band, and admits prior to "Little Fury Things" that this is the first time he's ever played the song live. It's credit to the man's hard-working ethic that he pulls it off without a hitch. We also get "Keep the Glove" and their superior cover of The Cure's "Just Like Heaven".

Ok, so there are minor niggles. No "Let It Ride" or "The Post" (apparently they played it the following night). "Don't" would have been a far superior closer to "Mountain Man", but then perhaps having Lou scream "Why don't you like me?" till his lungs bled might have been a tad inappropriate given the circumstances. Never ones to outstay their welcome, and in almost typical fashion, the band attempt to leave the stage a song too early! 80 minutes, one encore and they're gone.

So, all in all, I feel privileged to have seen one my all-time favourite groups perform, and against all odds. They did indeed rock. I certainly won't forget it in a hurry and neither will my ear-drums!