MELVINS live, Lille VEGA, Copenhagen, DK, 17th oct

MELVINS live, Lille VEGA, Copenhagen, Denmark, 17th of Oct. 2011

While MELVINS is a band I�ve always heard nice things about it�s not until recently that I�ve begun to check out their music, so before going to this concert I was only familiar with the 3 last albums out of an (at the moment) 18 studio album discography. I took a friend to the concert who had only listened to a few samples, so it�s safe to say we didn�t quite know what to expect.

After a DJ had warmed up people for about and hour and a half (there was no supporting act), the lights were dimmed and MELVINS entered the stage, starting the concert with an inferno of feedback noise and random drumming courtesy of their two drummers. Then they went into the first track which was a repetitive and extremely heavy track. To be honest the track felt a bit too repetitive and we got slightly worried at this point. We made our way to the front of the stage after the first couple of tracks (which wasn�t hard as the venue can only hold about 400 - 500 people. It was sold out though) and that�s when the experience of seing the MELVINS became extremely intense. After a while we simply couldn�t help ourselves and we banged our heads like madmen. My goodness MELVINS are heavier beyond heavy in a live setting. I don�t think I�ve ever experienced a more bone crushingly heavy band live. Even their more energetic punked up-tempo tracks are heavy as fuck.

The setlist consisted of quite a few tracks from the last three albums and especially "(A) Senile Animal (2006)" and the latest album release "The Bride Screamed Murder (2010)" were well represented. It didn�t bother me of course as those are the albums I�ve heard, but it was actually amazing how easy it was to understand and appreciate the tracks I didn�t know beforehand. MELVINS tracks are damn catchy and downright infectious and that had a contagious effect on the audience, who halfway through the concert started moshing (a single girl stagedived but was politely asked to remove her ass from the stage by a security guard). The mosh was actually so energetic that I missed parts of the JARED WARREN led track "A History of Bad Men", which is a favorite of mine, but who cares? I just like to see happy people go bezerk to music they love. The concert also included a shared drum solo and a quite bizarre and stoned ending to the night with JARED WARREN lying on his knees chanting into a microphone while electronically manipulating his bass for about 10 minutes. A bit unnecessary if you ask me, but because the rest of the concert was as great as it was we decided to forgive this odd way of ending the concert.

The musicianship is absolutely amazing in this band and deserves a mention too. The two drummers DALE CROVER and COADY WILLIS compliment each other very well playing little details all the time but they can also provide some heavy beats and as a consequence of having two drummers those beats come off as crushingly heavy. The vocals were also really strong this night allthough they were slightly low in the soundscape. The distorted bass playing by JARED WARREN bring a lot of heaviness to the music too.

The stage sound was really good this night. Raw and loud but without drowning the instruments in noise. The guitar tone of guitarist/lead vocalist KING BUZZO was particularly organic and his playing loose yet tight.

So it�s safe to say we had a very positive surprise seing MELVINS, and we both agreed that we would most definitely go see them when they come around these parts again. As my friend stated: "They opened my eyes to the fact that there are still original artists out there". I guess praise don�t come better than that.

1. Hung Bunny
2. Roman Dog Bird
3. The Water Glass
4. Evil New War God
5. AMAZON
6. The Talking Horse
7. It�s Shoved
8. Lizzy
9. The Kicking Machine
10. Billy Fish
11. It Won�t Be Long (The Beatles)
12. Electric Flower
13. Queen
14. At the Stake
15. Copache
16. Spread Eagle Beagle
17. A History of Bad Men
18. Ligature
19. The Bit
20. Shevil

MELVINS MMA artist page: http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/melvins.aspx?ac=melvins

Edited by UMUR - 18 Oct 2011 at 11:33am

Absolutely killer show

As I wrote I�m not familiar with the older material, so you might be right. There were generally very few pauses between tracks (no talking to the audience) and most tracks segued into each other or were connected with drumming interludes. Really energetic show

You�re in for a treat Pekka, if they put on a show like they did in Copenhagen.

I also had really similar experience seeing Melvins live, in I think 2007... Had been told on numerous occasions how awesome they were, but not really having listened to them, I dragged a couple of my unsuspecting mates down to the show. We were blown away. Now their one of my favourite bands!
I heard that Kurt Cobain auditioned for them pre-Nirvana, and didn't get in cos he wasn't a good enough guitarist! Could be bollocks, but it's a good story!