"Dinosaur Jr. set the standard for convulsive indie-rock guitar fireworks in the Eighties. Incredibly, the band's original lineup - guitarist J Mascis, bassist Lou Barlow and drummer Murph - hasn't lost a thunderous step." – Rolling Stone magazine

They were the alt-rock pioneers of their day, their simple alt-rock-folk-country songs spiked with massive amounts of guitar noise, a quiet-loud dynamic, metal riffs, long, wild lead solos and nasal drone. Despite their famous apathy, they became a cult phenomenon, their sludgy, noise-drenched sound influencing bands like Nirvana and Pixies and sparking the grunge revolution of the early 90s. They are Dinosaur Jr., slacker revolutionaries of a new crushingly loud sound and underdog heroes of the American indie underground.

In the beginning, in the mid-80's, Lou Barlow held down the bass, Murph joined as drummer and J switched from playing the drums to playing the guitar. He played the guitar in a style that emulated the way he played the drums thus giving birth to his decibel-defying guitar sound.

Between 1985 and 1997, they released seven milestone albums, the earliest of which saw them launching into the freeform noise and unrestrained yet melodic solos which earned them a loyal following. In that time, around 1989, the original parties of Mascis and Barlow parted ways: Barlow finding success with Sebadoh, and Mascis enjoying further success throughout the early nineties with Dinosaur Jr - and a succession of bass players - before finally embarking on a solo career.

Then in 2007, almost 20 years after they had parted ways un-amicably, they shocked oldtime fans – who might have given their ratty flannel shirts to the Salvation Army long ago but had not forgotten – with the release of a new album Beyond. Going beyond being a throwback album, Beyond was what NME critics called “a genuine monster”, picking up from where the original three had left off two decades ago and, this time, delivering the goods with an even tighter cohesion and dynamism.

Two years later, deep in the heart of Amherst, Massachusetts, past the apple farms, hiking trails, farmers’ markets, college campuses, New England homesteads, vintage guitar stores and hay rides, all three huddled in the cosy warren of J Mascis’ home studio, set up mics, plugged in the fuzz boxes, and recorded to Pro Tools yet another bunch of songs that harked back to the day when they hated one another’s guts and made fuzzed-out alt-rock the rage.

The result, 2009’s Farm, has since become their most critically-lauded effort since 1988's breakthrough effort, Bug. Farm captures the energy of a band 20 years their junior and with majestic solos, tightly-locked-in rhythms, fantastic songwriting and furious shredfests, shows the band to be in better form than ever.

8pm
(75mins, no intermission)

$40*, $60**, $80, $100
(Limited concessions for students, NSF and senior citizens at $25*, $40** respectively)

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