Live: J Mascis at Spiegeltent, 11th Jan 2012

The what: 90s alt-rock fogey and Dinosaur Jr frontman J Mascis plays Sydney Festival’s Spiegeltent in the first of a three-night stand that sees him not even come close to cracking a smile.

The Spiegeltent is a great pop-up venue in Hyde Park if you haven’t been. The only issue is the seats are fairly terrible; I’d rather stand than sit on a rickity-ass wooden chair. Still I got there early and got a seat so in a way it’s all MY fault. But seriously, a cushion won’t go astray.

But back to the show. At 7pm on the nose Mascis pops through the curtain, sits down without making eye contact with the crowd and launches into Listen To Me. Crowd swoons and applaudes politely. The great thing about his solo shows is that he has a ton of material, so when classic Dino tracks like Blowing It and Not The Same are played they get a great reception. He also throws his usual cover of Edie Brickell’s Circle of Friends in for good measure.

And then the solos started. Seeing Mascis with his band live shredding his Fender Jag and melting faces is one of the greatest things you can experience. When he’s sitting on his arse not acknowledging the crowd and soloing on his acoustic through a distortion pedal it’s a different matter altogether. By the tenth solo I was a bit bored.

For the encore he did Repulsion which is great and ended on Little Fury Things. The site said the show ends at 8:15 and that’s what happened.

Verdict: I love this dude so much, but too much unnecessary noodling made me lose interest. It’s also a tiny venue, engage the crowd, at least tell us there’s merch at the back. MORE MERCH SOLD MEANS MORE MONEY FOR YOU! It was also pretty cool hearing classic Dinosaur Jr tracks perfomed acousticaly a mere 5 meters from my face.

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