Acoustic guitars conjure a certain folksy image, and for a brief, strange moment it seems as though J Mascis is going to fit gently into it. Sitting in the middle of a bare stage, guitar perched on his lap, long, straight brown hair tucked neatly behind his ears, he looks just like Neil from the Young Ones.
He opens with Thumb, and his guitar sounds sweet and jangly, while his gnarled vocals call to mind Neil Young with a blocked nose and in tender mood. This is not what you expect from the man who, with his band Dinosaur Jr, practically invented grunge in the late 1980s, injecting each potentially placid tune with violent, reverberating effects that made your ears sore.
The crowd are clearly bemused by this softened Mascis. So when he launches into Same Day, from his new album J Mascis and the Fog, and slams his foot on an effects pedal designed for electric guitar to conjure a weird gurgle of crackling fuzz, the relief is palpable. From then on, every squealing solo and random spurt of revving, roaring noise is greeted with a joyful cheer. That folk image is ritually murdered and Mascis the gentle giant of rock is back in business.
Although Mascis performs alone, his songs never sound stripped or lacking: with a few buzzing chords and a bright, neat five-note melody he can fill the room. He has based his career on the same four or five song patterns, within which heartfelt emotion is a constant and the only variable is the grizzliness of the tone; and yet he repeats each with a gusto and warmth that keeps potential boredom at bay. Even a song as old as The Wagon, from 1991's Dinosaur Jr album Green Mind, sounds fresh and sprightly.
Most of the songs are wrapped around guitar solos. These are usually pernicious things, yet his frantic fingerwork doesn't irritate and, more exceptionally still, they don't sound stranded in a blank space at the heart of a song, but sparky, sharp and invigorating. There's life in the old guitar dinosaur yet.
***** Unmissable **** Recommended *** Enjoyable ** Mediocre * Terrible
