The Joy Theater on Canal Street in New Orleans filled up early for the Friday night loud rock and roll show from the long-running Amherst, MA trio Dinosaur Jr. While the frivolity of the French Quarter was just a few blocks away, it was all reverb, pounding drums and glorious riffs blaring throughout the pristine venue.
Opening the show was Ryley Walker’s adventurous noise rock quartet as the dual guitars, bass, and drum stretched out the alt-rock sound to a very receptive audience. “The Halfwit in Me” started out easy rolling before whacky guitar noodling and noise lead into stop/start prog-like changes. Walker and company were adept at mixing light FM like radio-friendly passages, with angular guitar changes throughout the opening set. Closer “22 Days” began smoothly before expanding in expansive Phish fashion with echoey guitar and band interplay.
Dinosaur Jr. took the stage and immediately blasted out eardrums with J Mascis guitar shifting from clean runs to overloaded pedal deployed feedback on opener “Thumb”, deconstructing the riffs in a loud fashion. The propulsive groove from Murph on drums and Lou Barlow on bass pushed along “Budge” while the newer tune “I Ain’t” swung with cool spacey freedom. Barlow’s sludgy bass dominated his rendition of “Garden” while the chunky “Little Fury Things” and the crunchy “Out There” were both excellent.
The group was locked in on this night using the middle of the set to focus on newer songs from Sweep It Into Space, the best of the bunch arrived via the ascending/descending riffs of “I Expect It Always”. “The Wagon” blasted out with John Moloney on a second drum kit and guitar tech Jake Wardwell joining on a second guitar before two of the night’s unexpected highlights rumbled forth. The huge breaks and turbine engine guitar of Mascis dominated a fantastic version of “Been There All The Time” while “Start Choppin’” was vibrating, bouncing around Barlow’s awesome bass runs.
Mascis is a guitar wizard and saved his best solo for the set closing “Gargoyle” as six-string swirling chaos mixed with wah-wah washing, all-around metallic backing from drums and bass in stunning fashion. A three-song encore was a sweet treat as “Kracked” kicked it off before a monstrous “Sludgefeast” brought all the powerful aspects of this great band to the forefront, before their brief cover of The Cure’s “Just Like Heaven” ended the show. Dinosaur Jr. continues to deliver their potent mix of ear-bleeding rock as the Big Easy experienced all this group has to offer on this raging night of rock.
