By Some Guy Who Can’t Hear Today (aka Stephen Bloch)

If you walked into last night’s show expecting a tidy nostalgia trip or a polite co-headliner arrangement, you probably left with your teeth vibrating and your heart cracked open. Dinosaur Jr. and Snail Mail didn’t so much “perform” as detonate a beautiful mess of fuzz, feedback, and feeling.

Snail Mail opened the evening with a kind of graceful melancholy but for the second half of the set they let loose and provided an admirable warmup to the sonic onslaught that was about to happen.  Lindsey Jordan, the lead of the band did take some time to find her groove.  The energy that was lacking in the beginning gave way to ample shredding and some real angst.

It seemed that the crowd at Turner Hall in Milwaukee, Wisconsin was as much there for the opener as they were for the headliner.  There was definitely a demographic schism, but everyone was copacetic. 

When Dinosaur Jr. took the stage they were clearly trying to prove something. There was no small talk and only limited recognition of where they were playing except a bit  from bass player Lou Barlow and a couple of grumbles from lead guitarist J Mascis. What they may have unintentionally or intentionally wanted to prove was that no one plays louder and is able to blend classic rock with 90’s alternative like they do. They have the sound, but what really makes them special is how Mascis’ vocals are layered over it and it’s kind of soothing. screamo about his The 110 db circulating around the room are definitely tempered by his voice. 

By the end, everyone’s ears were ringing, not from damage, but from being alive. When Mascis mumbled a goodbye and shuffled off there was a completeness 

Rating: 9/10 tinnitus ghosts. Would lose hearing again.