I felt old. Most of the people at the show had big black X’s on their forearms indicating they weren’t old enough to buy the beer and liquor which was still flowing pretty freely at the two bars at Terminal 5. My wrist was decked in the coveted blue band, but I only bought one round. None of us wanted to leave the rail and possibly lose our place in the front along the gate - we had gotten there early and camped out on the left side of the stage.

The Meat Puppets exploded onto the stage shredding riffs and occasionally launching into mesmerizing soundscapes that might have been solos, or might have been homage to Jimmy Hendrix. I laughed through most of their show, it was all so good natured and just plain fun. Chris and Kurt gathered up their stuff at the end of the show themselves, wrapping cords and grabbing pedals - a very different attitude than J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr. who presented himself more like a disinterested guitar god who could not be bothered with the menial work of preparing for or cleaning up after himself. Perhaps my impression of him is slightly colored by the fact that he parked three full Marshall stacks right in front of me (and a Fender twin that he used as a monitor) which added up to the most insane amount of noise possible. There was absolutely no need for all this hardware, and his solos (which at times struck me as just flat out being in the wrong key) were usually in some wierd mode weren’t melodic or interesting to me. Most of the crowd was obviously there to see them however - the crowd surfing and moshing began in earnest.

Built to Spill was an entirely different matter. They were, in a word - sublime. I must admit to a certain prejudice in favor of any band with a Cellist, but their performance was quite good. I can’t say I liked a lot of their new songs as much as I do their older stuff, but it might just be familiarity, I don’t know yet. A great show all told.

I really enjoyed the pre-show dinner and Guinness with Ned and Todd, lots of laughs. Ned ended up having to find his own car at the parking garage due to the high level of ineptitude in evidence there, but I managed to make the 1:15 out of Penn anyway. Click the image and look for us!