Jurassic Park II

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.

Dinosaur Jr.

Dinosaur Jr. / Modey Lemon
The Fillmore, San Francisco
Aug. 18, 2005

Dinosaur stage @ The Fillmore (Courtesy of the FreakScene Forum)

The Gang Of Four tour back in May was cool, but when this tour was announced I thought I heard the girly screams of Music Geeks erupting from sea to shining sea. This was THE Music Geek event of the year IMO: The original lineup of Dinosaur Jr. [click for link] doing the 'ol reunion thing after 15 years...

FUCK the current bullshit Motley Crue "Reunion" Tour (which is actually their 2nd "Reunion Tour").. J., Lou, and Murph proved they could implode a band with the best of 'em.. BUT now they're back together and, appropriately, tonight's show was sold out in advance (ka-ching!).

Umlaut had been looking forward to this week for months.. Two of his all-time favorite bands (Iron Maiden and Dinosaur Jr.) playing within 5 days of each other. Fucking EPIC. I was as giddy as a little school girl.

Back in February, Umlaut saw Paul Westerberg and it dredged up alot of memories (mostly good) from my days living in a Music Geek bachelor pad in downtown San Jose in the 80's. After my "Metal Days" I really got into the whole 80's Underground / College Radio Rock thing... Good times.

Dinosaur Jr. are the quintessential Umlaut band.. A band that says in their official bio that they were spawned from a "wildly messed-up mix of influences (from Venom to New Order to Neil Young)".. Just like Umlaut.

Last weekend Umlaut was in the middle of an Iron Maiden crowd and a voice in my head told me "These are your people..." In hindsight, that thought was misleading.. A Maiden crowd reminds me of who I was in my teens, which is not a bad thing. However, tonight I was in the middle of a Dinosaur Jr. crowd and a voice in my head told me "This is who you are.." As Dylan once sang "We always did feel the same, we just saw it from a different point of view..."

My inner Teenage Metalhead just called me a Poser for quoting Dylan.

I ran into Captain Fireball & Co. and had a conversation about, of all things, how completely godhead Iron Maiden and Tony Iommi had been at OzzFest. I TOLD YOU it was THE Music Geek event of the year! Later Timo, The Sheriff, and I all made comments about J.'s vintage Marshalls onstage.

The Geeks shall inherit the Earth.

Watching J. attack his guitar and wrestle decibel magic from it is still a sight and sound to behold... Yeah, the Guitar God sash still fits him.. and Lou and Murph were locked and loaded as well. By the time they encored with the obligatory double shot of "Just Like Heaven" > "Freak Scene" I literally thought I was going to explode. Literally.

If you had bought one of everyone Dino Jr. merch item you would have paid $85. On the way back to the car, some pimply-faced teenagers called us fags. Now, if Spacemen 3 [click for link] ever returned from the dead I might start believing in that thing called Easter.

"Just don't let me fuck up, will you... 'Cause when I need a friend it's still you.."

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Compare and Contrast:

The Rolling Stones' 2005 stage @ Fenway Park, Boston (Courtesy of Pollstar):

I guess you need something this ridiculous to distract people from the fact they paid up to $500 EACH for their Field Level reserved seats..