With Beak and Skiff Orchards back to their bread and butter of serving up apples and apple-related products and activities, and Brewery Ommegang back to concentrating on brewing great beers, Dan Smalls Presents moves their shows back inside. The 2022-23 season at the State Theater of Ithaca opened on Friday September 9th with a show from rock veterans Dinosaur Jr.
Nearing 40 years of existence, one wonders when they graduate to Dinosaur Sr. Though minutes into their tour-opening show, it was clear the youthful energy, vigor and drive to push their musical boundaries was still alive and well.
Some observations of their show from a late-arriving newcomer.
J. Mascis’ guitar, with the help of six gigantic Marshall stacks, shook the walls of the historical theater. Lou Barlow strummed his bass wildly, filling the space with a vortex that swirled around you, spit you out and sucked you right back in. Murph’s limbs flew every which way, pounding out rock-ready rhythms you felt as much as heard. Yep, Dinosaur Jr. delivers an ear-splitting full-body aural massage. That was no surprise. But behind the bombast, casualness and nuance ruled the day.
Dinosaur Jr. just sauntered onto the stage, beating the house lights, which only went down after they started playing.
The roadies spent the show just hanging out behind the amps, readying the load out about halfway through the show. During “The Wagon” one joined in on guitar while another took over a second drum set. The band’s on-stage demeanor was also more attuned to a hang with pals than a blistering rock show. In between songs, Mascis would often saunter off to the side of the stage to take a shot. Murph at one point walked off stage, returning just in time for the next song.
Amidst the hang, some real inter-song magic came via short tuning jams that frequently popped up. What started as casual noodling could evolve into a three-way improv. After “The Wagon”, Mascis started riffing out some power chords and Murph tossed in some nice rumbling drums. A particularly tasty nugget, with some jazz undertones, nestled between an anthemic and bombastic “Been There All The Time” and monster rocking “Raisans.” Before the encore, Mascis dropped a blink-and-you-miss-it “London Bridges” teaser, a subtle tip of the hat to the Queen perhaps?
The show started and ended similarly. After strolling on stage they came out swinging on a big rocking “Thumb.” 80 minutes later, after a blistering “Gargoyle,” they again just casually walked away, without fanfare, the final notes still crackling though the walls. Sandwiched in there they mixed a variety from the full breadth of their catalog. Melodies pushed through on “Garden” and “Feel the Pain,” funk-tinged wah work highlighted “Little Fury Things” and “Start Chopping” and spine-melting shredding sparked in “Mountain Man.” Is it possible to finally fall for a band already four decades into their career?
By shows end, Barlow’s shirt was fully sweat through, a different shade of grey. Murph’s sweatiness, however, was masked by the black tour tee Ryley Walker provided, just as Walker had advised him it would. Walker’s support wasn’t reserved to wardrobe advice though, he was also the show’s opener.
With his drummer unable to make the show, and his bass player’s instrument lost in transit, Walker called an audible and presented a set of “guitar fuckery” and “type 2 jams” with bassist Andrew Scott Young joining in on second guitar. For 45 minutes without stopping, their guitars danced around each other in beautiful cosmic weirdness. It was spacious and free, but mostly remained accessible. Walker worked his pedals and loops while Young played it straight and unfiltered, at times settling into a bass-like groove. Experimental rhythmic squeaks, eerie textures, droid-like bleeps and bloops… a thrilling opening set.
