The Melvins 25th Anniversary

Saw the Melvins last night at Webster Hall. In case you didn't know, they were performing the "Houdini" record in it's entirety. Sort of.

The show was billed as starting at 6:30, oddly early, but when we got there, we were informed that it wasn't actually going to start till 8. I guess Webster Hall figured maybe people would come in early and spend copious amounts of cash on over-priced swill. Instead, I took a page from my earlier years (OK, who are we kidding, this practice continues today) and we went to the liquor store and got smallish bottles of whiskey, pouring them into cups from the Dunkin' Donuts, and drinking across the street from WH.

The Melvins took the stage at around ten after 8:00. Only it wasn't the Melvins, it was King Buzzo with the original lineup of the band from 1983, and they played about 10 tracks off their 1983 demo (re-released in 2005 on Ipecac as "The Mangled Demos"). Sweet. It certainly wasn't the Melvins of today, but it was cool nonetheless. A lot faster and to the point, it lacked the ass-kicking punch of what you'd expect from the Melvins, but was still decent hardcore punk stuff.

After that, the rest of the band left the stage, and Dale Crover got behind the kit, but uhhh... for some reason, they played the next 6 or 7 (more recent) Melvins songs sans Bass guitar. It sounded OK, but... the Melvins with no Bass? That's like, the Melvins playing the songs too fast... which they proceeded to do when Trevor Dunn (Fantomas) joined them on stage and they started playing songs off of Houdini, finally. OK, so it was only one or two songs, but they sped up "Honey Bucket" to the point that I felt it was ruined. And when a band says it's going to play an album in its entirety, you kind of expect a song by song rendering of said album. They played most (not all) of Houdini, but in a random order that was somewhat misleading compared to how the show was announced. But I'm not trying to dwell on the negative; it was a great show. They rocked out harder for 2 straight hours then most bands around now can for 45 minutes. Dale Crover is a phenomenal drummer, and their live rendition of "Spread Eagle Beagle", a 10 minute drum solo, was far more interesting then expected (though it certainly was no "Moby Dick"). A good time was had by all.

Here's a video of Buzz on that crappy Fox show "Red Eye" from the night before. He looks younger on TV. The host is a real sack of shit.



edit: Also, I think B.D. Wong was on the same 4-Train as me. I kept staring at him trying to figure out for sure. I think I creeped him out.