Comments on: Concert Flashback: Dinosaur Jr., Worcester, Mass., 11/07/97

By: solipsistnation

solipsistnation — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 08:49:42 +0000

It certainly might explain why he wasn't feeling particularly chatty.

By: jbrandt

jbrandt — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 07:49:42 +0000

It certainly might explain why he wasn't feeling particularly chatty.

By: mojo

mojo — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 23:21:00 +0000

I had not heard that. If it is true that is AWESOME

By: jbrandt

jbrandt — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 21:07:49 +0000

Oh, hey.

I am told by people who were at that show that Dinosaur Jr. actually broke up immediately afterward, in the back room of Riley Commons.

By: AZJack

AZJack — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 20:29:53 +0000

Hello, all. Jack here from said 'Jack' in MoJos article. The funniest part of all this is that I am sitting here reading this article...and I can FEEL the pressure building in my head. This shit was so loud.....

Imagine, if you will, a waterballoon. Remember as a kid, those hot, humid New England summers and you're taking that waterballoon and you're going to fill it with the garden hose. And instead of s-l-o-w-l-y turning the valve, you turn it really fast, the balloon fills up and then goes shooting out of your hand across the yard. Close your eyes..think about it. NOW...imagine this waterballoon is your head, Dinosaur Jr. is the garden hose and Mascis just goes and just turns the valve. I felt as if my head had shot across the WPI campus.

And not for nothin', it may not have been as bad if anyone had bothered showing up to the show. If I remember correctly, there may have been maybe 200 people there. A little bit larger crowd may have buffered the distortion.

If you'll excuse me...I have to turn off the hose...

By: mojo

mojo — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 14:54:23 +0000

That is why I wrote the line about “medical experiments.”

It's hard to imagine, really, even with that description–but it was so loud it physically hurt! Never before, and never since have I had this sensation. It literally rattled my sternum and collarbone, standing toward the front (I got out, fast).

By: mojo

mojo — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 14:44:55 +0000

I think you were in ATL or Providence and were out of stow at that time?

By: jbrandt

jbrandt — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 17:09:23 +0000

Man, Riley Commons…. People who had been around a little longer called it Gompei's. I saw SO MANY bands there– mostly local, or Boston-area, but occasionally people from farther away. It's not really a dining hall, either– it got used as part of a cafe thing part of the time (there was still a pizza kitchen in the next room in 1997, I believe), and was where the local drama groups would usually put on plays using the same portable stage pieces that were used when bands played. It wasn't really ideal, but mostly worked out. There was a residence hall right upstairs, too– imagine trying to sleep or do homework with Dinosaur Jr's massive sound system downstairs. Eesh.

By: steed

steed — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 00:06:08 +0000

I feel for you with the interview part. I remember my worst one ever, with the band Firewater back in 1998. They came onto my radio show and singer Tod A. answered every question in a foreign language (German I think). While I didn't idolize them like you and J. Mascis, it was a giant F.U. to me, someone who enjoyed them and played the hell out of them and I've never gotten near a disc from them since.

By: MichaelFortes

MichaelFortes — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 17:43:48 +0000

I saw Dinosaur Jr in '94 or '95. Same story, incredibly loud and my ears didn't stop ringing for three days. It was so loud, it seriously hurt. The one reprieve was when the drummer busted his bass drum head, and for a few minutes Mascis played softly and unaccompanied while the drum head was being fixed. That was the loudest show I had ever attended, until just recently, when I saw Earthless and foolishly forgot my earplugs. That show was so loud, I experienced distorted hearing about five days after the show. Those decibel levels should have been illegal.