Dinosaur Jr. / Pink Mountaintops
Commodore Ballroom, Vancouver, BC November 10
By Alex Hudson

It's been 24 years since Dinosaur Jr. released their first album, and with the original line-up now back together for the first time since 1988, their status as alt-rock legends is guaranteed. Still, after watching the group's latest performance at Vancouver's Commodore Ballroom, it's hard not to fear for their physical well-being. The band's amps were cranked to near-deafening volumes throughout the show, meaning that most concertgoers went home with a ringing in their ears that lasted much longer than the 90-minute set.

Singer/guitarist J Mascis was seemingly undeterred by the sound levels, spending the entire performance standing directly in front of his three towering Marshall stacks. He treated nearly every song as vehicle to indulge his inner guitar god, shredding the shit out of his Fender Jaguar during a feedback-laced takes of new Farm tracks like "Plans."

Mascis was slightly more restrained on the band's classic material, keeping his guitar theatrics to a comparative minimum during the one-two punch of "The Wagon" and "Freak Scene," which together earned the biggest cheers of the night. The recent single "Over It" was similarly punchy, its blistering tempo making the studio cut sound downright lazy.

Although bassist Lou Barlow and drummer Murph were less flashy than their guitar-wielding front-man, the rhythm section's airtight accompaniment was no less impressive. They laid down a steady groove during a set-ending cover of the Cure's "Just Like Heaven," which was soaked in fuzz and sounded pretty much like everything else the band played.

Also on the bill were Pink Mountaintops, whose baroque folk and psychedelic rock workouts seemed practically sombre compared to Dinosaur Jr. Still, the band's lush five-piece arrangements were an effective counterpoint to the headliners' squalling feedback, especially during the aching ballads "Vampire" and "Closer to Heaven."
Annotations of an Autopsy - The Reign of Darkness
Blessure Grave - Judged By Twelve, Carried By Six
Magnetic Fields / Laura Barrett
Hillside Inside Featuring Owen Pallett, Ani Di Franco, Basia Bulat, Bahamas, Hawksley Workman
The Golden Filter / LA Riots / Junior Boys
Hollerado - Record in a Bag
Orphaned Land - The Never Ending Way of ORwarriOR
Pantha Du Prince - Black Noise
Watson Twins - Talking To You, Talking To Me
Buzzcocks - Another Music In A Different Kitchen / Love Bites / A Different Kind Of Tension
Sade - Soldier Of Love
Yukon Blonde - Yukon Blonde
Steve Kaldestad - Blow-Up
Galactic - Ya-Ka-May
Gil Scott-Heron - I’m New Here
Dawn Of Demise - A Force Unstoppable
Janine Stoll - Melancholia
Stygian - Fury Rising
Shining - VI — Klagopsalmer
The Kandidate - Until We Are Outnumbered
Troll - Neo-Satanic Supremacy
Meshuggah - Alive
Dark Fortress - Ylem
Massive Attack - Heligoland
Fear Factory - Mechanize
Reckless Kelly - Somewhere In Time
Arsis - Starve For The Devil
DevilDriver / Suffocation / Thy Will Be Done / Goatwhore
Asobi Seksu
James Blackshaw / Gary Higgins
Lil Wayne - Rebirth
Light This City - The Hero Cycle
Lightspeed Champion - Life Is Sweet! Nice To Meet You
Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba - I Speak Fula
Georgia Anne Muldrow - King’s Ballad
Droids Attack - Must Destroy
Hot Chip - One Life Stand
Ellen Allien / Various - Watergate O5
Through The Eyes Of The Dead - Skepsis
Pierced Arrows - Descending Shadows
Rob Zombie - Hellbilly Deluxe 2: Noble Jackals, Penny Dreadfuls and the Systematic Dehumanization of Cool
Pawel - Pawel
Children Of Celebrities - Stereo Bang Bang
Midlake - The Courage Of Others
Guns N’ Roses
Julie Doiron / Attack in Black
Tegan and Sara / An Horse
Nouvelle Vague
Arch Enemy / Exodus
Between the Buried and Me / Cynic / Devin Townsend Project / Scale the Summit
Fucked Up - Couple Tracks
Magnetic Fields - Realism
Strong Arm Steady - In Search of Stoney Jackson
Harvey Milk - Harvey Milk
Basia Bulat - Heart Of My Own
Ihsahn - After
Living Sacrifice - The Infinite Order
Ihsahn - After
Steve Earle / Joel Plaskett
Scuba / Various - Sub:Stance
Make Me Young - Make Me Young
Taking Dawn - Time To Burn
Postdata - Postdata
Woodhands - Remorsecapade
Buraka Som Sistema / Various - Fabriclive 49
Beach House - Teen Dream
Los Campesinos! - Romance Is Boring
Various - Born Again Funk
Wetdog - Frauhaus!
Coolzey - The Honey
Rel!G!Ion - Revelations 1
Buraka Som Sistema / Various - Fabriclive 49
Chicago Underground Duo - Boca Negra
Cars & Trains - The Roots, the Leaves
Morton Feldman / Milton Babbitt / Phoenix Ensemble - Clarinet Quintets
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