Dinosaur Jr @ Emos 12.7.07

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The Dinosaur Jr. show at Emos on Friday night qualifies as the single loudest show that I have ever attended. I've been to shows where the volume level has exceeded Dino's at times (Mogwai come immediately to mind), but in terms of sheer volume from start to finish, J, Lou, and Murph have taken the crown. It may have had something to do with the three Marshall full stacks behind J and the Ampeg 8x10 and Marshall half stack behind Lou. Just a guess. This was my first time seeing Dinosuar Jr. and I am so glad that I decided to go. The near capacity, if not full, crowd at Emos ranged from middle aged former slackers in stained Husker Du tshirts drinking 4 dollar beers to glassy eyed 19 year olds in stained Husker Du tshirts to confused looking frat boys pounding Lonestar tallboys as they made their way to the door with a look on their face that seems to say "Why do they have to play so loud, and what's with that old guys hair?" In short, the audience was varied, but once the confused "I went to this show because it was recommended by the Chronicle so I guess I should go" crowd left, everyone was really into it and the vibe was great. As opposed to Dinosaur Jr's last show in Austin (at Stubbs) which focused on the bands early output, Friday's set mixed in some of the band's mid 90s, post Lou and Murph tunes as well as a few from their new album Beyond. In fact, the highlight of the night for me, aside from the classics, was "Pick Me Up" from Beyond. Watching J solo for 4 or 5 minutes straight while Murph showed why he is one of the best rock drummers of all time and Lou chewed gum and banged away on his Tele bass was beyond amazing (oh my, the pun). I had a blast and it seemed like everyone else there did too.

In my enthusiastic post show state I searched the Internet for a decent quality live recording of "Pick Me Up" and, in doing so, discovered that one of my favorite tapers, Sloan Simpson of Athens, GA, has a new blog (Southern Shelter) where he posts boots of local shows. He has a really great quality recording of the 12.3.07 Dinosaur Jr. show in Athens up in case you want to vicariously experience the show. Below is the version of "Pick Me Up" they played at that show. The whole set can be found at Southern Shelter.

Dinosaur Jr. - Pick Me Up (live @ The 40 Watt in Athens, GA)

Get the whole show here.

Buy Beyond here