A Dinosaur, an Ohioan, and a Comic Walk into a Bar…

Live Review

Nov 27

Dinosaur Jr. headlined a short bill with fellow 90s alt-rock heavy hitters Guided By Voices at Boston’s House of Blues on Saturday, 26 November 2022. Comedian Eugene Mirman opened.

It was a night for nostalgia and a night for celebrating the here and now. Look in the eye of the fans who packed the house at House of Blues, and you can tell who’s here for what.

The nostalgia fans were the middle-aged types who triangulated their dress code somewhere between office casual and backyard barbecuing. They came as Cool Mom and Dad pairs, and they each spent the show internally debating whether they still like “this kind of music” or were just excited about a night away from the kids. Or they came in groups, usually male, which paraded around the venue buying rounds and slapping each other on the back. You could’ve swapped Eugene Mirman in for lead guitar and the nostalgia fans might not have noticed.

The rest of the fans were a motley assortment of diehards, scene freaks, and curiosity seekers celebrating the here and now. Don’t tell Dinosaur Jr. or Guided By Voices that they’re nostalgia acts. Both bands have well-received new albums, regular touring schedules, and draw interest from a younger generation that wears Nirvana and Metallica t-shirts without irony. If the old Francis Fukuyama thesis about the end of history holds true anywhere (it probably doesn’t), it holds true in the streamable omnipresent of pop music in which Louis Jordan, Led Zeppelin, and Lady Gaga all become playlist immortals of equal rank. Why not Dino Jr. and GBV too, now and forever?

But first – comedy, ladies and gentlemen. If a comedian strikes you as out of place at a music gig, reflect on the long tradition of variety shows that draw no hard line between types of entertainment. Whatever gets asses in the seats. Comedians have also become staples at the big summer festivals: Coachella, Bonnaroo, SXSW, and more. And if you were going to pick a comedian to open the show in Boston, it might as well be Massachusetts resident (and Hampshire College alum) Eugene Mirman. He trotted out some music-related jokes, walked the crowd through the absurdities of a pre-school application, and included a few plugs for his massive 7xLP (!) comedy record I’m Sorry (You’re Welcome), which includes at least “forty-five minutes” of Mirman crying.

Guided By Voices performed as a five-piece, consisting of two guitars, bass, drums, and longtime mainstay Robert Pollard on vocals. The band out of Dayton, Ohio, known for its comedically prolific output, has a new album on the way, Scalping The Guru. The album figures to be the 45th or so release from GBV. Pollard is in on the joke at this point, one-upping his band’s discography count with the claim that he had released over 120 records as a solo artist. “Hapless indie rock loser who goes on a mission to collect all the original editions in the Extended Pollard Universe” is a terrible documentary film waiting to happen. To help out the crowd at House of Blues, awash in the vast song library, Pollard named the songs as he sang them.

Dinosaur Jr. took the stage after an interlude set by Mirman. The band performed in their typical three-piece, post-2005 reunion lineup, consisting of J Mascis (guitar), Lou Barlow (bass), and Murph (drums). J Mascis set up in front of a massive three-column stack of amplifiers, while Murph and Barlow spotted up stage center and left. Joining them on stage was a scarecrow positioned stage right and a pink monster-thing behind the drumset. Neither bulky, awkward, ugly prop was referenced or involved during the set. Shades of Spinal Tap’s Stonehenge.

The Massachusetts-bred band is touring its new record Sweep It Into Space – and they kept it local during the Thanksgiving holiday, playing three in-state shows in four days. Lou Barlow showed some “Masshole”-love in his crowd banter. The bassist served up a slice of nostalgia as he recalled the band in its early days trucking back and forth from the Pioneer Valley to Boston for gigs. What seemed to stick in his memory above all was the “darkness” along Route 2, back when it was hardly more than a country road and lacked the high-mast lighting that’s standard along most highways nowadays. (There are still plenty of dark stretches along Route 2, but that’s part of its charm. -ed.) The talkative Barlow provided a good counterpoint to J Mascis, who was never known for his crowd work.

Demographics be damned, there was some vintage moshing in the pit that night. Venues have mostly outlawed the practice, but policing it is difficult. Dinosaur Jr. doesn’t play your typical mosh fodder, though the Mascis-penned numbers always seem to contain a few thrash metal breakdowns that will serve the purpose. Toward the end of the set the band played the hits from the Mascis-era of Dinosaur Jr., which were probably the most familiar to the nostalgia seeker. The hits sounded great – maybe better than ever with Lou Barlow back on board, on the bass, and showcasing some of his own songwriting on the new album. And, of course, Murph rocked too.