Tuesday, June 25, 2019

Live: J Mascis @ An Club (Athens, June 21st, 2019)


For fans of noise rock J Mascis is undeniably one of our greatest guitar heroes and last Friday we had the rare opportunity to enjoy a solo performance by him in the intimate surroundings of the historic An Club.


Armed with just an acoustic guitar and the necessary pedals that helped him occasionally to double up his sound, J Mascis played a great set which included selections from both his solo career and the formidable  Dinosaur Jr songbook.


Although this acoustic setup is more suitable for his folk inspired solo material, like last year's album "Elastic Days", it is still exciting to hear acoustic interpretations of his more noisy side as even early Dinosaur Jr songs like "Repulsion" or "Little Fury Things" have a melancholic melodic heart beating strongly underneath all the electric mayhem.


J Mascis let his fingers do all the talking throughout his 80-minute performance and although I won't deny that sometimes I did miss his electric guitar, I certainly enjoyed this other, more calm, side of his guitar-playing genius.


Check out below the set list of J Mascis first ever solo performance in Athens (with support from singer-songwriter Jef Maarawi) and have a listen to his fine cover of Mazzy Star's "Fade Into You" (one of his two cover versions along with The Cure's "Just Like Heaven"), as well as "Out There", the final encore of the show:


J Mascis - Fade Into You (live @ An Club, Athens, June 21st, 2019)


J Mascis - Out There (live @ An Club, Athens, June 21st, 2019)

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