Dinosaur Jr. / Comets On Fire -Great American Music Hall
San Francisco
April 19, 2006
Last August Umlaut had an amazing week where he saw both Iron Maiden and Dinosaur Jr. within 5 days of each other. Two of my favorite bands back on the road; I was mainlining nostalgia. In hindsight, I cut Dinosaur Jr. alot of slack at that first show because I was just glad to see the original trio onstage again after all that time.. My Inner Flannel Shirt forgave some of the rough spots in their performance. Of course, one of my favorite songs is 'Heard It In A Love Song' by The Marshall Tucker Band so I wouldn't blame you if you thought I was full of shite.
I was surprised when these shows were announced since I thought the reunion of the original trio was a limited edition thing; this new leg of the tour meant Dino Jr. V.1-Revisited would be on the road for over a year. At this stage it would be easy to imagine the band simply going through the motions onstage to get their guarantee and merch sales. I was wondering if I'd made a mistake by committing to this gig instead of being across town at the Dixie Witch / Golden Gods show.
However, my reservations were calmed when 'Waterloo Sunset' by The Kinks came over the PA as the band's intro; a Music Geek Moment for sure. All fears were completely put to rest when they busted into 'The Wagon' very early in the set, and they proceeded to play all of the hits from the previous Murph / Lou era during a great 90 minute set. Unlike at The Fillmore, Lou in particular seemed much more invested in the performance. Dino V.1-Revisited also seemed looser under the stage lights this time, which included some jammy sort of intros to songs.
Dino Jr. has always been a "This One Goes To 12" bands and, just like back in The Day, the crowd grew smaller as the weaker ones wilted under the band's volume. The exodus was fun to watch and my clothes and the floor were noticeably vibrating; I also noticed dust falling from the ceiling at one point. They had cleared a good 1/3 of the audience out by the final encore of 'Just Like Heaven' > 'Sludgefeast'. Nicely done.
Trivia: Umlaut has been wearing earplugs at shows since 1991. The 1st time was at Lollapalooza #1.
Number of people seen holding their ears = At least 8. If you bought one of every Dino Jr. merch item you would have paid $280. On the way back to the car, some pimply-faced teenagers called us fags. I will never get tired of hearing 'Freak Scene'. Of course, one of my favorite songs is 'Heard It In A Love Song' by The Marshall Tucker Band so I wouldn't blame you if you thought I was full of shite.
