Last Wednesday I went to Austin to see the Melvins, who are playing a few scattered dates across the country to celebrate their 25^th anniversary. Quite a long time for a band for sure, especially since they have been around longer and/or outlasted their Seattle contemporaries.

We got to the city a couple hours early and decided to walk down 6^th Street and take in the sights. If you've never been to Austin, 6^th Street is where everything is; venues, bars, shops, etc. It goes on quite a ways from I-35 westward until all of a sudden you're in a typical corporate downtown city. We stopped in some shops and looked at a ton of stuff that I wanted to buy but resisted. Briefly went into Starbucks, which is very odd to do while wearing a Rage t-shirt. Met a couple street musicians and saw them jam (I had never seen anyone play a saw before. It was SO cool. She played it by sitting down and putting the handle between legs so that she could hold it up on the other end with her left hand and playing the flat side of the blade with a violin bow. Sounds like a theremin. Very awesome).

Doors opened at 9 and there was quite a line outside of Emo's when we got there at 8:30. Once we got in we bought some swag and after I went to put it in our nearby car we had prime spots center stage and a couple people back. Then we waited. For a long time. There was no opening band and the show started at 10 so we expected it to start then. It didn't. The first hour went by quickly but after so much standing you start to get tired of it. It was probably 10:55 when the band came out. Once the music started, though, we immediately forgot about the wait.

They started out by playing songs from their Mangled Demos from 1983 release with the original lineup, their original drummer Mike Dillard on the kit and their current drummer Dale Crover on the bass. I hadn't listened to those songs very much before but they are quite awesome in their own right. A lot more rock and have some punk elements to them in terms of speed and such. I shall have to revisit them sometime. Then Dale moved to the drums and him and King Buzzo (the Melvins guitarist) played a couple new songs that rocked before bassist Trevor Dunn came out and the main event of the night started. All this movement of personnel happened very fluidly and without banter or such, which I kind of liked.

In addition to the original Melvins playing their original tunes, the other part of this celebration was the performance of Houdini, arguably their greatest album, in its entirety. Houdini came out in 1993 and was the first of their 3 major label releases for Atlantic. The Melvins also came out with a live version of this album a few years back that was performed and recorded in an empty warehouse. Houdini is definitely THE Melvins album to have in my opinion. Chances are if you've heard a Melvins song, it's from here. It's loud and heavy and kicks a ton of ass.

I had heard before from somewhere, perhaps on MOG, that the Melvins live are overly sludgy and droning live. Maybe that was the case in the past, but it wasn't last week. It was almost exact in terms of technicality (which especially when you're talking about Dale Crover's drum playing is quite impressive), and it was so much louder as well (we didn't notice how loud it was until after the show when our ears were ringing as we were walking outside). Sure they playing the slower songs a little slower and the fast ones a bit faster, but the band was spot on in their performance. "Honey Bucket", "Hooch", "Lizzie", etc. Loved it, loved it, loved it.

What I didn't love was the mosh pit. As previously mentioned we were located in the center of the crowd, and to the leftish of us was a wooden post, so the moshing area happened to form to the right of us and of course left us on the immediate edge of it. There were only 4 of 5 people who were really continually doing it, but they decided that instead of running into each other they should run into everyone around them as well. I understand that the Melvins are heavy, but they are stoner metal, not metal. It's music for some headbanging and some pushing, but not moshing. Or perhaps I'm crazy. Regardless it was quite annoying having to constantly throw elbows backward or push the same drunk guy off of me that had landed on me 19 times before. At least I drank a bunch of water on the way so I did not become overly exhausted.

I probably would have enjoyed the show more had the moshers not been there, and it seemed to me and my friend that Buzzo and the crew felt the same way. During the couple times he spoke to us (very friendly and such) he seemed to be speaking to only part of the crowd. It didn't affect the music or anything like that, but at times you could kind of see it in his face. I'm sure that this isn't the first time that's happened though. We didn't get an encore, but the two hours they were on stage were great.

As great as it was for us, the stars of the night were two little kids. Them and their dad showed up about the same time we did and a guy in front jokingly put them on stage so that they could see. Well as the aforementioned wait progressed one of the stage hands came out and gave them picks, then set up a small area on the side of the stage for them to watch, then got them water, then got a security guard to stand by them for the entire set. They're most likely responsible for part of the wait. Jerks. So the 8 and 10 year-old brothers got to rock out during the whole thing on stage. AND during "Spread Eagle Beagle" (an extended song with extra loud drumming) Dunn stopped playing the floor tom and bass in front of him and handed his sticks to one of the boys. UNREAL! Him and Dale even traded off a couple rolls. So jealous. Then after the show they each got sticks from the band. Probably signed. Stupid kids.

Meanwhile we were very tired, covered in our own and others' sweat, and already a little sore, so we headed to Waffle House (I told them we had jumped into a pool) for a very satisfying meal (and I inhaled 3 glasses of water as well). Once we got back in the car we had apparently regained our sense of smell and realized how much we stank. Ever had a night where you were too tired to take a shower? Yep. Definitely took one as soon as I woke up, though. Thank you, Melvins. I'll be back for your 50^th.

Here's a video someone put up of the start of the Houdini set: