Thunder lizards

Dinosaur Jr. is yet another band that few if any people could imagine getting back together, at least in its classic lineup. Low Barlow's dismissal from the band left a lot of bad blood which took about 15 years to settle. As it turned out, Ottawa still didn't get the original lineup. Lou and J Mascis may have made up, but drummer Murph couldn't make it over the border so instead we got Fog man Kyle Spence on the traps. The good thing about the Dinosaur Jr. reunion is the real creative spark that exists; they've turned out a couple of excellent albums. I saw a lot of young and old at this show, with the conspicuously grey-haired couple in front of me in the box-office lineup was joking about being two decades older than most of the crowd (and kidding about asking for a refund if they weren't deaf for three days after). On the other hand, you know a band's been gone a awhile when the 20-something security guard asks “What’s this band like, anyway?”

J's pedal board.



Mascis was a bit difficult to photograph since he was tucked away in his nook of amplifiers.



J sings!



Feedback action (which could could apply to just about every photo, actually).



Whammy action!



Rhythm section action!



Spence is certainly quite the thumper.



Lou certainly likes his bass down low.



It was really too far away for the fisheye, but what the heck.



The relatively quiet bit!



And that's it, since I was abiding by the "first three songs rule" for once. They've just wrapped up a tour of Australia and are off to Europe in May.

• Show reminder: Ornaments, Micarza Camaro and Look Toward the Sky rock The Cajun Attic; The Sidewalks, Living Sound System and Mackenzie Rhythm Section serve up a two-tone St. Patrick's Day at The Rainbow; The Sunbleached Skulls are at The Elmdale House.

Night of the living fuzz

I'm going to make this brief, since last night's Dinosaur Jr. show wrapped up around 2 p.m. and getting out of the Capital Music Hall, back home and then unloading my photos turned out to be a slow process. The show brought out a mixed audience - you could definitely tell from the amount of grey hair and young faces that the crowd was divided into the folks who heard them the first time around and their post-breakup fans.

Lou Barlow I've seen before - in fact at the time he discussed his rapprochement with his co-Dino J Mascis. He wasn't as cheerful and jokey this time around. He actually baited the crowd a bit, first breaking off a song, then saying "Sorry if I distracted you from talking ..." Then later yelling "Thanks for coming to the show!" , However, he cheerfully played a request from the audience (this time for Skull), before finishing with "one you haven't heard before."


Lou Barlow at Capital Music Hall, January 22, 2010

Next up were MV & EE. Matt Valentine and Erika Elder have a good new album out, Barn Nova, which is fairly rocking. They played Summer Magic and Get Right Church off of it, the later featuring a guest appearance by Mascis on drums.


MV & EE at Capital Music Hall, January 22, 2010

Dinosaur Jr. naturally rocked the house, or should that be, they pummelled the house flat with a massive hurricane of volume? The kids got moshing (making the security staff grumpy) You'll notice from the photo below that that isn't Murph on drums (too much hair). He was refused entry, so Kyle Spence from The Fog filled in, and did a great job. Lou jokingly thanked the crowd for turning out "after failing to get Tegan and Sara tickets."


Dinosaur Jr. at Capital Music Hall, January 22, 2010

A fine show; my only complaint is that Mascis' amplifier nook includes a case that partially blocked my view.

• Show reminder:It's Day 2 of Tegan and Sara and An Horse's Bronson Centre Theatre stand. Hemi Loco, Junkyard Dogs and The Boxcar Cadavers rock Mavericks; Madison & Fifth, Dollhouse Accessories and Look Toward the Sky play Zaphod Beeblebrox; The Banditas and Hot Damn! play Raw Sugar; Sherri Harding and The Heat perform at The Rainbow; Black Feelings, Tonstartssbandth and some mystery guests play 854 Bronson. Big Tobacco and The Pickers hit Irene's; Brothers Chaffey with opener Brendan Flynn and the Terrible Liars play the Elmdale House.