I've decided to start going through my iPhotos and writing up some of the past stuff like concerts. I Usually had a description in my email anyway.
This is from MC5 at the paradiso.
I'm not that into going to see reformed shells of bands who once meant something to someone. All I really knew about the MC5 was that they wrote "Kick out the Jams", which is a damn good song, and has been played at one point or another by almost every Band who picked up a guitar. They were one of the original loud garage bands who paved the way for punk(UK bands like the who and the yardbirds were a bit earlier) along with the stooges and iggy pop. The sound was raw, and very similar to what we called grunge when I was a wee wean!
Why did I go? Well three reasons(In reverse order):
1. I'd get to hear kick out the Jams.
2. Mars Volta have convinced me of late that garage band rock might be of interest.
3. Evan Dando was singing back up.
4. Mark Arm was singing backup.
Now getting to see some hasbeens play a classic wasn't enough to go to the show, but both Evan Dando and Mark Arm was.
I've always loved the lemonheads. Evan Dando is a great chilled song writer. Now that he's less popular I've seen him in some really small venues in Glasgow. His music really suits small venues. I've also seen him out in glasgow with some other vaguely famous musicians. He's a pretty cool guy all round.
Mark Arm. What can I say. Mudhoney are one of the most phenomenal bands of all time. Refusing to be cool, and being cooler because of it. I think they stand the test of time far better than Nirvana, and they tend to pop up in my brain every time someone mentions grunge. They are one of those bands which are just so much fun. They are simultaneously the most and least talented band on the planet, and they have that essence of what it means to be in a band. The who gives a fuck attitude, as long as we are having fun.
Anyway. Mudhoney is another story. The paradiso is a strange venue, the stage isn't as high as I feel it should be and it manages to be more intimate than a venue of its size should be. You get very close to the musicians.
The support act was some stoned out acid casualty beat poet from Detroit(but now living in NL somewhere - Rotterdam??). He knew Timothy Leary and Ginsburg. It was quite good fun, and was a kind of a good aperitif for MC5, kind of made you feel like you were in the 60's
The MC5 then came on they did a few numbers with just the core band. Wayne Kramer(Pictured), while having far less hair than in most MC5 pictures was a damn good guitarist, we wasn't a bad singer either. Still a lot of energy. Sometimes, no matter how good the band are, if they are feeling a bit fed up and down in energy, it comes across to the audience. Tonight that wasn't a problem, everybody felt alive.
They were even more alive when Mark Arm joined in.... See below.....
