J Mascis
The Famous Spiegeltent, Hyde Park, Sydney
January 11, 2012
Reviewed by Liveguide Contributor Bronwyn Thompson
There’s always something a little strange about indie-rock gigs that fall under the banner of Sydney Festival. It’s not just the different venues – if only we could see the National or Beach House in the Recital Hall every time – but the crowd, most obvious at the intimate Spiegeltent.
So taking a seat for the first of three J Mascis shows in the iconic performance space, at the very civilised on-stage time of 7pm, it was perfectly natural to find a couple on the wrong side of 55 discussing an issue with a lawn while carefully sipping a glass of champagne each (just the one, though, it was a school night). Not that there’s anything wrong with that, of course, but you almost felt the need to warn them about Mascis and his love of abrasive noise and lengthy solos, even in the seemingly safe realm of acoustic solo performance.
And it started out feeling a little safe, too. He shuffled out to the sparse stage and sat down, said hello and then ripped into the great “I Can’t Wait” and the title track from his excellent 2011 solo set, Several Shades of Why. He followed with the effective cover of Edie Brickell’s “Circle”, which suits his cracked voice and slacker delivery.
Many in the crowd were there for Dinosaur Jr material, though, and he didn’t hold his trump cards back for long. First came a more recent track, the sweet “Ocean In The Way” from 2009’s Farm, which was followed by the eternally wonderful “Get Me” off 1993’s alterna-hit Where You Been (has it really been nearly 20 years?). With a sharp melody and slowed-down stoner delivery, it lent itself perfectly to the more acoustic setting – that was, until Mascis could hold back no longer on the noise. With a stomp of the foot he unleashed the kind of sound that you very rarely hear from an acoustic guitar – and in lesser hands you’d probably not want to hear it. Teeth-rattling white noise mixed with a thick, sludgy sound, it was both a surprise and a relief. After all, Mascis being relatively quiet is almost disconcerting.
That great album’s “Not The Same” followed, then a couple more from his solo sey and “Ammaring”, one of the cuts he did with his band the Fog. But it wasn’t long until he returned to Dino, and in a grand way too, with “Flying Cloud” from 1991’s Green Mind. Perhaps the only slight on Mascis performing in this relatively stripped-back light is the focus it throws onto the lyrics. “Flying Cloud” features the gem, “Hey lady, where you goin’? Hey lady, why ain’t it snowing?”
The noise pedal featured with increasingly short intervals, as did the winding guitar solos and in-his-own-world riffage, wearing thin on some audience members – there were many wincing watchers close to the speakers, while others left during the final guitar solo before the two-song encore. And what an encore it was – for fans, anyway. He brought out the, well, dinosaur of “Repulsion” – and though the original song’s falsettos and arrangement didn’t quite translate like some of the other campfire-worthy tunes, it was still a treat to see it resurrected some 27 years after its release.
Another classic followed, in the raucous “Little Fury Things”, from 1987’s You’re Living All Over Me. While Mascis did without his usual arsenal of pedals and guitars – not to mention band members, with the singer creating a rhythm section from simple loops at the start of songs – he did just fine. And he definitely reimagined the notion of an acoustic show for many unsuspecting watchers in the Spiegeltent. Sure, he was a man of few words, but he can be – after all, he’s goddamn J Mascis.