The MELVINS Shack - MELVINS on the Road...July 1999

MELVINS on the ROAD
JULY 1999

JULY TOUR DATES

1 Thursday COWBOY BAR Missoula, MT	2 Friday NEUROLUX Boise, ID	3 Saturday THE ROCHE MOTEL Pocatello, ID
Sunday OFF	5 Monday HOLY COW Salt Lake City, UT	6 Tuesday OFF
7 Wednesday FOX THEATRE Boulder, CO	8 Thursday GARTONS VAIL, CO	9 Friday STARLIGHT FT. Collins, CO
10 Saturday BLUEBIRD Denver, CO	11 Sunday OFF	12 Monday THE BOTTLENECK Lawrence, CO
13 Tuesday RANCH BOWL Omaha, NE	The above shows with ENEMYMINE	14 Wednesday 7TH ST. ENTRY MINNEAPOLIS, MN (early show)
14 Wednesday 7TH ST. ENTRY Minneapolis, MN (late show)	15 Thursday THE RAVE Milwaukee, WI	16 Friday DOUBLE DOOR Chicago, IL
17 Saturday FIRESIDE BOWL Chicago, IL	18 Sunday OFF	19 Monday SHELTER Detroit, MI
20 Tuesday SUDSY MALONE'S Cincinnati, OH	21 Wednesday EUCLID TAVERN Cleveland, OH	22 Thursday CLUB LAGA Pittsburg, PA
23 Friday OFF	24 Saturday MIDDLE EAST Cambridge, MA	25 Sunday OFF
26 Monday LIVING ROOM Providence, RI	27 Tuesday ASYLUM Portland, ME	28 Wednesday EL N' GEE CLUB New London, CT
29 Thursday KNITTING FACTORY New York, NY (early show)	29 Thursday KNITTING FACTORY New York, NY (late show)	30 Friday KNITTING FACTORY New York, NY (early show)
30 Friday KNITTING FACTORY New York, NY (late show)	The above shows with COSMIC PSYCHOS	31 Saturday THEATRE of the LIVING ARTS Philadelphia with MELT-BANANNA

REVIEWS

I was at the Melvins concert in Minneapolis yesterday, and I'm here to tell you everything...
Waiting in line I was lucky enough to see Buzzo and his crazy eyes. I met some really cool people waiting in line, each from at least 100 miles away!
The first band was NAMBLA, a mediocre punk/grunge band from Australia... I just remember one song "Fuck you! Fuck off!" and possibly a Judas Priest cover of "Death Row," but I don't listen to Judas Priest so I couldn't say for sure. The guitarist played a lot of fast solos using his JIMI HENDRIX wah pedal... every song seemed to sound the same, but it was a cool garage band.
Cosmic Psychos and a few other bands played in the 7th St. Entry, the closet of the Main room... I didn't see any of those bands, though.
Melvins came on and kicked ass! They played:
Manky
see how pretty, see how smart
amazon
AMAZON
We All Love Judy
2 totally awesome song from STAG
about 3 songs that are unrealesed and really really kicked ass one songs words were "If I had a choice to live all over again, I wouldn't. Cuz this isn't much of an existance."
and of course, EYES FLYS. I thought it was an extremely drawn out noisy annoying song that left my ears still ringing. Dale had to pound on his Gong and MASSIVE cymbals for at least 7 minutes while the crowd made fools of themselves. He crashed our ears about every 30 seconds, until the finale when he went crazy.
Buzzo was dripping from sweat, looking like he was taking a shower on stage. His guitar was SOAKED, and I managed to catch some sweat off his hair. I was only 5 feet away in the front row watching in awe. I have no idea who the bass player was, but I thought he was the Cows bass player. His bass had a sticker that said "It takes BALLS to be gay!" and he wore a Zuba dress with combats... looking pretty gay, really. Buzzo was wearing all black, loose button up shirt and loose pants as usual. Dale was wearing a jersey and shorts.
Buzzo really dragged out every song, turning a 5 minutes song into 10 minutes. The first 10 minutes were really noisy and repetitive, but it accomplished its goal of driving non MELVINS fans away. woo-hoo! One of my friends went to see the Melvins just 'cuz I told him how cool they were, and the moron left right after the second song. I'm really quite glad, 'cuz that fucker isn't worthy! =))
I picked up a shirt, $15! That sure beats the $30 they were charging at Ozzfest and Zombie. The cd's were only $10. I got one of the dolls, the most conservative, really. There were 3 dolls. Each had 2 girl heads on them. The one I bought is wearing a miniskirt made of fake fur, the 2nd doll had the girl on a giant cockroach. The third was pretty sick, panties down and blood all over her legs, shoes and bush. Ick!
BUZZO HAD THE SAME OLD BIG SWEATY HAIR. =) thank goodness.
At the end of the concert Buzzo chatted with the crowd (one sided converstion). He said he wants to move to Minnesota, because ANYBODY can get a government job. He said he would run for Sherrif! =) He also mentioned his tour with Nine Inch Nails and that Trent had the best dope ever. So, I guess he's another heroine head? Who knows.
Melvins only played the songs they wanted to, as usual. Everyone kept begging for Green Manalishi and Leech, but he ignored us all. Often leaving his guitar on between songs, so squelching would cover up the crowd. I like that... doesn't give the crowd a chance to respond. KICK ASS!
Hope this will brighten your day.

Try Chicken

Just got back.
It was good.
Now I will type a short description and go to sleep.
Cosmic Psycos were a beer drinking austrailian band that had a few good riffs but otherwise sucked a fat one. Then came the melvins. While I was outside waiting in line an hour before the doors were supose to open a man walked by. Is that dale I thought. By the time I relized it was him it was to late and he was about 100 yards away. "Damn drugs" I thought to myself after about another 10 minutes of confusion. So back to the melvins. Wow. First off. New bass player. The bass player from the Replacements is now aparently the full time man. Amazing eh? I'm not positive on this for I have never seen kevin Rutimantis live. I got stuck in traffic for ozzfest. The opened with some song off the maggot which I am to tired to recall the name. Then I think they went to a new song. Then another new one. The bit showed up somewhere some off stoner witch. Ect. They ended with Eyes Flyz. That lasted about 10 minutes. Then Buzz and Mystery Bassest disapered after a quick bow. Dale stayed and banged on his gong and toms repetitivly for about 6 more minutes and then stood up and left. Buzz and the guys took a short break before their last song. Buzz rambled on about moving here and running for sheriff because anyone can get elected here. Then he started calling us the 3rd coast. The he shut up. Over all I give the concert a 8.5/10.

tOM

The show was pretty damn good. They played a lot of things I hadn't heard before that sounded a little more like the early Aerosmith the club was playing before the show. Eye Flys was awesome. Super slow, great finish. Awesome drum solo.
I sincerely doubt that the bass player was Paul Westerberg. Mainly because I know that that was Kevin Cows, but also because I don't think that even the Melvins could save Westerberg from his disasterous solo career.
Seriously, I have been listening to the cows all week in the car, and I am really happy that the Melvins got him. He's a great bass player with a predilection for big drone-y noises and crazy metal attack moments. And I like the way he dances.
Bonus of the evening: Jesse Ventura video before the show. Man, what a freak! What were we thinking?

-d hill

Melvins take bitterness to an ear-splitting level
Veteran grunge band unleashes sound that's sure to keep the band obscure
By Jon M. Gilbertson
Special to the Journal Sentinel
Last Updated: July 16, 1999
Sometimes, legends remain obscure for good reason, a list of good reasons. The history of music shows how often someone more practical or occasionally more talented tweaked the breakthroughs of such pioneers and got rich along the way.
Much bitterness usually results.
The Melvins, possibly the first band to develop the unholy Black Sabbath-punk fusion that would form the basis of grunge, might have dragged out several suitcases of sour grapes before about 200 people at The Rave Bar on Thursday night. But the Washington state-based trio might also have been merely doing what they always have done - epitomize musically the vacuum inside people who just don't care.
A precis of the Melvins experience: Take one steamroller. Place yourself directly in its path. Allow yourself to be run over several times. Stew in your own juices. Oh, and poke out your eardrums with a hatpin.
Surprisingly, the majority of the music-listening public dislikes that sort of thing. Hard to figure why Kurt Cobain, one of many influenced by his geographical cohorts, decided to add digestible tunes to the mix.
Yet few bands can match the commitment (in at least two senses of the word) of the Melvins. Nor can they crank out so much complex monotony, at a volume so regularly high it shatters thought, laughs at concepts like lyrics and melody, and nearly guarantees unconsciousness.
Sporting fright-wig hair (actually not a wig) as frizzy and unkempt as the band's music, guitarist and guttural vocalist Buzz "King Buzzo" Osborne wallowed in riffs so rooted to their limits that the slightest chord change felt unbelievably complex. Drummer Dale Crover and bassist Kevin Rutmanis threw down thunder - an almost literal description, since thunder obeys no do-re-mi scale.
The sole, or at least main, derivation from the primordial sludge was a full run-through of Merle Haggard's "Okie From Muskogee"; the Melvins restored the irony Haggard meant the song to have. But otherwise, the show didn't pivot on the idea of "liking" the Melvins: You either lived and died the band's music, or you were a mere observer with hands clasped over ears.
The Cosmic Psychos, an Australian trio, opened with road-ready, high-momentum punk. Designed, as most Down Under phenomena are, to show up the rest of the world as sissies, the songs beat three chords into the ground, then bounced the rubble. Elemental music - as in dirt and fire - was the purpose of the evening.

Appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on July 17, 1999.

SORRY THIS IS A LITTLE LATE. THESE SHOWS WERE 7/16 AND 7/17. MISSED THE 21 AND OVER SHOW FRIDAY. MISSED THE IN STORE AT QUACKER GOES DEAF SAT. AFTERNOON. HEARD BOTH WERE PACKED. BUZZ WAS VERY TALKATIVE AT THE INSTORE. HE EXPLAINED THAT THE SONG JUDY IS ABOUT JUDAS PRIEST's SINGER WHO IS GAY. ????? ANYWAY FINALLY GOT TO SEE THEM SAT. NIGHT AT THE FIRESIDE BOWL. (all ages show). IT WAS ABOUT120 DEGREES INSIDE. NO ONE COULD LEAVE THE BUILDING AND RETURN. COSMIC PSYCHOS HAD TO PLAY IN THEIR UNDERWEAR IT WAS SO HOT. THEY WERE OK. FINALLY THE MELVINS. THEY PLAYED PRETTY MUCH THE SAME SET AS THE REST OF THE TOUR. THEY WERE JOINED BY DAVID YOW (JESUS LIZARD) FOR 2 SONGS THAT WILL BE ON THE CRYBABY LP. IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SECOND SONG THE MELVINS STOPPED SO MR. YOW COULD TELL A JOKE. Q."WHAT IS THE AMERICAN DREAM?" A. 3 MILLION BLACKS GOING BACK TO AFRICA WITH A JEW UNDER EACH ARM." DON'T TAKE IT TOO SERIOUS, I'M SURE IT WAS TOUNGE IN CHEEK. MR YOW ALSO DID A GREAT JOB OF SURFING THE CROWD WHILE SINGING. MELVINS ALSO HAD SOMEBODY NAMED ADAM ON SYNTH AND GUITAR. HIGHLIGHT WAS YOUTH IN AMERICA (WIPERS). NEW SONGS SOUND GREAT. THEN BUZZ WANTED TO TALK. SEEMS THAT FRIDAY NIGHT HE MADE A JOKE ABOUT BILLY CORAGIN (i can't spell his name-you know the smashing pumpkins guy). SOMETHING ABOUT BILLY'S MOM AND COURTNEY LOVE AND ANAL SEX. SEEMS BILLYS MANAGER WAS IN THE CROWD AND TOLD BILLY WHO GOT MAD. TURNS OUT BILLYS MOM IS DEAD. BUZZ WENT ON TO SAY THAT HE WAS NOW WORRIED ABOUT HIS MUSIC CAREER NOW THAT BILLY WAS OFFENDED. HE SAID THAT HE WAS OFFENDED BY THEIR MUSIC AND THAT THEY COULD GO FUCK THEMSELVES. BILLY CAN AFFORD THERAPY. BUZZ WAS IN A FIGHTIN MOOD. MUSTA BEEN THE HEAT. AFTER THAT TIRADE EYE FLYS. SHOW OVER. A GOOD MELVINS SHOW, NOT THE BEST I'VE SEEN. AT LEAST THEY STOPPED PLAYING SACRAFICE. STILL TOO MANY METAL HEADS COMING OUT TO SEE THEM. STAY HOME FOOLS!

TONY

Dateline Detroit;
Arrived to happily find Cosmic Psychos in spite of the lack of them on ticket and names of other bands in the ad in the Metro Times. Idiots were yelling "Redcoats" and other British stuff in spite of the band being Australian.
Melvins:
Smoke very bad. Tried to claw eyes out. Wish to kill mogtherfucking smokers.
Tinnitus: pretty bad.
Mosh pit: irritating but not out of control.
Heat: very very bad. Yet outside by the end was comfortably cool. Fucking dead air.
Knife like plastic shard in eye from breaking off the write tab on my tape of the show: very painful, nearly as bad as the smoke.
2-headed plastic doll with Melvins shirt and panties around ankles: cool. Set: had breaks in it, so was able to successfully tape wihtout loss of important data at side switch.
People standing around blocking road after show: morons.
Weekday show action: kicking my ass, and worse tomorrow.

Ted

Don't read this if you don't want to be pissed - but I saw the Melvins for my second time tonight and some of you won't like what i have to say about it. The first time was a few years ago in Kentucky and they completely rocked my balls off - one of the best shows I've seen over the years - no doubt about it. I would also have to classify the first time I saw the Cosmic Psychos as one of the best shows I have seen (both are in the top 10, at least). Tonight's show had the Cosmic Psychos blowing the Melvins off stage and they also topped their performance in Chicago last winter. The Melvins, meanwhile, were definitely not on it tonight -- BAD NIGHT!!! BAD, BAD NIGHT!!!
Not to say the stupid ass Cincinnati crowd was of much help (heckling Kevin about his "I LOVE COCK" shirt and his "It takes balls to be a F#G" sticker..... stupid idiot morons!!). Nor the disappearing sound from the PA system that kept going out during the first few songs. Not that I wasn't kind of glad that those songs were over at the time(the first song from Maggot and one of their video songs(??))- they ended up being two of their better songs of the night, despite the sound problems.
So, after the sound was fixed, they were hoping, Buzzo asked how many drummers were in the crowd and, of course, everyone raised their hands. He picked some little punk rock kid (did somebody say NAMBLA) and had him go take over the drums and had Dale come over and play his guitar. They worked their way into the lame cover of Flipper - and Dale ended up getting pissed at the smart ass in the front of the crowd, me, who was yelling "Play a song..... a real song!!" His jaw dropped and he looked like he was going to cry (or kill) and said something about Flipper starting it all when I was still shitting my diapers. He was pissed- even mentioned it when introducing another song off that album and staring right at me! So, it wasn't funny, but I didn't mean to hurt the guy... just a joke... (Oh yeah, the kid might be up for Dale's spot as drummer.. he did pretty good for drumming a Flipper song)
That "song" ended after about five minutes and then they got back to their instruments and played some songs- taking breaks between each to let the PA cool off rather than their usual feedback - fests. Buzzo was trying to come up with obscure songs to play- oh, yeah, they played a real lame song off the next CD before getting their shit together and finally rocking out for the last few songs (sorry, I don't know song names). I was surprised to see how many people left to go sit around outside. And, yes, the highlight of the evening was definitely NOT Green Manalishi, but, rather, their cover of ............The Wipers ... "Youth In America" !! It was amazing.
Really, though, tonight was a lot better than a lot of other shows I've seen by other bands. Definitely not as good as any show that the Cows have ever done- or the Melvins, for that matter. It was disappointing as a long time Cows fan (and long time Melvins fan) because even though Kevin did play perfectly, even as good, if not better than Mark D., he is a LOT better when he is with the Cows- even during the Cows mini-slump of the past few years, Kevin was always EXCELLENT.
They need to rethink this thing about having the legendary Cosmic Psychos open for them because it is one tough act to follow- they need to reverse the bill- even though half the people would leave before the Cosmic Psychos came on, it would have to be better than having them leave during the Melvins set. And, it was really cool how they used the same equipment.
OH YEAH - Tonight's BIG QUESTION : Is that Tim Mac, legendary producer (the black guy with the beard on stage) that is helping out with the sound ?? I know he's toured with the Cows many times- always thought that was him.

Ron

Howdy All,
I guess I feel obligated to respond to these comments, since it seems I had a totally different opinion of the show. First off we got there late and missed the first couple of songs due to incompetent navigational skills. But it seems that after the second PA failure that the boys decided to take the show in a different direction than a lot of the other shows on this tour. There did seem to be alot of heckling with the crowd and I think you deserve every bit of Buzz's verbal assault for your,"Play a real song" comment. You failed to mention that they closed with Boris and did amazing versions of the Bloat and the Bit. Also the older songs like Let God be Your gardener and Hog Leg were tight as hell and damn rocking. You were right about "Youth of America" being the highlight of the evening though. All in all I think the Melvins did a great job of working the crowd and managing to turn a negative( bad PA) into a positive( great show). I think it showed how truly professional the Melvins really are, since the same thing would have ruined most other bands. Oh bye the way, I thought the two new songs were fucking brilliant. Later.

Lorelei Farley

One of the "great" things about seeing a show at Sudsy's is that, invariably, the power will go out. As such, a band is often forced into the uncomfortable position of having to perform outside of their routine. Melvins pulled it off better than any other band I have seen. The improvisation and interaction with the crowd was something I thought I would never see, especially given the reviews posted here. I enjoyed the 10+ minute rendition of "Sacrifice;" putting Dale on guitar freed the King to really play the crowd.
Just because you might have been chastised by the band members for your heckle (so was I; when I asked to hear Candy-O, the response from Buzz was "we don't take fucking requests, asshole.") doesn't mean the show was as bad as you think.
Bloat was incredible. It was one of the best live performances of any song I have ever heard, and will be stuck in my brain for at least another month.

Lee

Cincinnati----Sudsy Malone's
The doors opened at 9:00p.m. Cosmic Pyschos started their set at around 10:15. The Cosmic Pyschos for the most part sucked they had a couple of decent songs though. They finished up their set at around 11:15 and it took almost a half-hour to set up for the Melvins. The Melvins came on and naturally kicked fucking ass. The first couple of songs were plagued by PA problems but after that, all was well, besides a little verbal argument that Kevin had with some prick in the audience. Then they brought some fuck up from the audience to play drums on Sacrifice, which was pretty cool. Dale took over guitar for the song while Buzz instructed the dude what to do. Both new songs from -The Bootlicker album sounded pretty good, as I'm looking forward to getting a copy next month. The place was a literal fucking inferno of heat and humidity, but tolerable when it came to seeing the Melvins. Finally left at around 1:30a.m. after the final song........Boris which was great.
Here's the setlist (not necessarily 100% accurate but pretty fucking close) Question marks are beside songs I'm not 100% of
AMAZON (PART2)?
amazon (part1)
Manky see how pretty, see how smart
Sacrifice
Let God be your Gardener
Two new songs from --The Bootlicker--
Green Manalishi
The Bit
The Bloat
Hogleg
Youth of America?
Boris
If anyone was there and bootlegged the show or would just like to shoot the shit about the show email me.

DEADPAN

i just got back a little while ago from the show in New London, Ct. it was a pretty good show. there weren't many people there which didn't surprise me, but it was a lot more than the last time they the played there (at the 3-set show for the STAG tour there was like less than 20 heads in there). they played a different set than what i expected. they also had this guy, Fred, playing drums along with Dale. he had like a "mini-drumset" in front of Dales' drumbs. With Teeth, See How Pretty...., Boris, Manky, Lovely Butterflies, and two new songs from THE BOOTLICKER were the highlights for me. there was no Manilishi, but they sang "Jeff Thomas" from Roll Another One (he was on the side of the stage) oh yeah.... they closed with the Wipers tune. i have no idea who fred is, but he did a great job. Buzz is still shaken from the Kennedy mishap, but nobody seemed to share his sympathy. the Cosmic Psychos were pretty good. i wouldn't buy their cd though. you should go out and get TODAY IS THE DAY's new record. i was pissed that they didn't have any of them there mutant baby things. this guy said they'd have them at the NYC shows tonight and tomorrow. the Cosmic Psychos were selling beltbuckles. Buzz isn't looking foward to the new york shows. Buzz is a funny guy. he doesn't seem to have too much faith in his audience. after the show...the Ryder truck was mobbed with a buncha people. i wonder how that went over. i hope none of those "diehard" fans decide to steal the truck. my friend told me that John Spencer just met the same fucking fate with his equipment as SY. i think THE BOOTLICKER will be a great record from the songs i heard. i'm fuckin' rambling. sorry.

XgankoneX@aol.com

-

I saw the Melvins on Thursday night (the 8:00 show) at the Knitting Factory. I have this to say:
The Cosmic Psychos are boring. Their lyrics seemed funny, but I couldn't hear them because they didn't have them turned up loud enough. Hearing their lyrics would probably add to the enjoyment of their set. If you don't want to see a band play basically the same song 10 times, with guitar solos in every one, go late to the Melvins show. Sorry to be so negative, but they bored me to tears.
I can't understand why bands never seem to have anyone good (though that's "good" in my opinion) opening. Or why they can't just show a movie or get a mathemagician or something.
Now, the Melvins:
They are the most goddamn repetitive band on earth. And that's extremely cool.
Their set was excellent. I guess they played basically the same set they've been playing. "See How Pretty See How Smart" was one of my favorite songs of the night, even though it repeats the same riff over and over and over again for a long time. But this became trance-like after a while. I think it's the best song on The Maggot. After they played that, they went into a fast song off the Maggot, but I forget which one. It was frigging good. Buzz deserves a trophy for his headbanging skills. He's one very big man. His neck is the width of a watermelon.
I was really looking forward to them playing "Youth of America," but I was a little bit disappointed by their version of it. Buzz wasn't singing all the right lyrics, and that upset me a little, but maybe that's the way he wants to sing them. But the middle part ("The rich get richer and the poor get poorer") was TREMENDOUS.
The highlight of the night for me was definitely "Eye Flys," which they finished their set with. They brought out another guitar player, and he did feedback and pick scratches while Buzz got feedback as well. The sound filled up the entire air, until I thought I was going to suffocate. The beginning of the song is one of the most frightening pieces of music ever created. It came to a great climax at the end, as everyone got their final headbangs in. I think it's the best song the Melvins have ever written, even though it seems like it's one of the simplest.
A fucking excellent show.
How were the other NYC shows?
One question, not related to the Melvins- Does anyone think it'd be worthwhile to go to see Black Sabbath on their final tour?
Or do you think they'll just play "Changes" and blow?

dan

I saw the 11pm show on the 29 in NYC and the 8pm on the 30th in NYC.
On the 29, I was supposed to go to the 8pm show cause I have to be at work at 6am. My uncle accidently took my car keys with him when he left to go the the store. So I couldn't leave. So I did what any melvins fan would do, I stole my uncle's other car. I live about 2 hours from my uncle, so I just left my car there and took his. The car died on me on the way to the show, right before the toll of the mid town tunnel. (a very bad place for a car to die). So I wait for three hours til my uncle showed with my car, apologizing of course. I said fuck it, and just went to the 11pm show, the hell with work, who needs sleep?
I'm very glad I went. The band opened with 'Eye Flys' a really spooky version of it in was like 12 mins long. The guitarist from Tool was at the show, he joined them for four songs. The drummer from the Cows joined them for 'Amazon.' The show was awesome. I just stood in front of Buzzo and his amp. The pa was kinda of screwed up, you couldn't hear Buzzo singing, but the pa was better the next night. The setlist is same it has been for the rest of the tour so far. Buzzo's pedals are rat pedal, a boss digital delay and a boss tuner. And dal's drumset in just fuckin amazing to look at. I've never seen such huge cymbals.
Got home at 3:30am, and got up for work at 5:30am.
The 8pm show on the 30th was pretty cool. The guy from Tool was there again and so was the drummer from the Cows. Buzzo actually talked at the show and made a few jokes and said he was glad that the Cosmic Psychos had toured with them. There were posters on the wall with pictures of all the covers to the new albums but someone beat me to stealing it... The other album covers are flowers just like maggot. They had the dolls for sale at the shows. The shirts with the metal head joke on it.

rick
www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Towers/5752/Melvins/

Well, I saw them last night. I was fortunate enough to miss the first, and most of the second, act, which reminded me of a Bordems-esque scream band. The MELVINS rule. It never ceases to amaze me how thick and ambient a sound they mange to bring to the average rock "club." I was surprised to hear them play a few of their older tunes (inc. "Let God be . . ." and "Eye Flies"), though I would have preferred at least one or two tunes from the first two Atlantic albums to the covers/Bootlicker tracks. I'm not impressed with the new bass player, and though Mark was just one in a string of temporary folks filling that spot, he was the first I saw them perform with, and perhaps that makes me nostalgic. I liked his cowboy character in contrast to Dale and Buzz. He seemed to add character. Kevin just seems like the average alterna-rock character, and his gyrating gets a bit "whatever" after a while. Even Buzz seemed to look on with an expression of "whatever," but that's probably just me reading into it. Granted, the MELVINS will always be Dale and Buzz, but I guess I just liked Mark D. The whole show, though excellent, made me remember the STAG tour fondly. I look forward to another three-set tour.
This was the biggest audience I've ever seen at one of their shows, but that was certainly a result of seeing them in a big, Eastern City for the first time. Apparently, Philly fans have no reservations with video taping shows. There were at least two guys there with camcorders.
Amazon rules, and the guy with the second drum kit is a cool concept. I think it's remarkable that Buzz keeps his effects pedal back by his amp (Pro Rat and two white painted BOSS pedals). I didn't see the familiar KISS sticker on the Les Paul. Dale's kit seems to change with every tour, and a Neal Cassady looking roadie had to keep tending to the top tom, as it suffered Dale's pounding. Dale wears more clothes these days too.
I have no substantial complaints, but I do sorta miss "the good old days" a little bit.

Francesco

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