Hello! I've just arrived back from the Primavera festival in Barcelona where Melvins played Houdini again.
They played at 9 o'clock on Thursday as the sun was going down. I was pleased to see em on the biggest stage of the festival with video screens and crazy cameras lurking about just above the crowd. They were playing before Smashing Pumpkins (HOORAY! Not) so the front row was actually made up of Smashing Pumpkins fans. It was really easy to get near the front though. Just a little bit more about the stage: it was set up with a flat part in front for standing and a hill at the back for sitting. Past that there was the sea! It was great to see them in such cool surroundings.
Anyhoo I arrived about 20 minutes before they were due to start to get a good spot (and to see if BB were going to play beforehand as their myspace page sort of suggested that they would. They didn't, never mind!). The Smashing Pumpkins had so much crap already on the stage that the giant drumkit was right at the front because that was the only place it would fit. This pleased me greatly.
Buzz + Jared came out dead on 9 to great cheers and lots of people running over to the stage (possibly coming over from Dirty 3 who were way better than I thought they would be on another stage). Buzzo's guitar didn't really seem to be working but it got going eventually. Jared's bass was horrendously loud. It was ridiculous. The sound was really incredible. It vibrated my stomach Sunn O))) style and the note rang out for a while. Then Dale and Coady came out and they played Hag Me. It was brutal! Definitely the heaviest sound of the six times i've seen them play. I loved that they were playing the songs in a different order yet again because it just made the whole thing more surprising. More of the bands doing the 'don't look back' album gigs could learn from them. Sonic Youth played Daydream Nation a couple of days later and although it was good it was surprise-free, which was kind of sad.
If I remember rightly they played Pearl Bomb followed by Hooch and Honey Bucket. By that time everyone in my general area was dancing and bumping into each other. That's in the friendly nice way as opposed to the douchebaggy face-punching way. It was great to dance with the spanish Melvins fans! Everyone had massive grins on their faces. I don't remember the exact order of songs after that, but it was definitely in a completely different order to both Houdini albums. Every time they started up another song it was a surprise and greeted with huge cheers. Dale was hitting the drums so hard people had to keep running on and fixing em up as they rattled apart. There were also some cool harmony vocal bits where everyone was singing including Coady and a little bit before a song where they were all talking nonsense at the same time. It sounded really cool. I'm sorry I don't know exactly within which songs this was happening but I had some kind of Melvins induced euphoria thing going on. It was the best Melvins gig i've ever seen for sure.
After (I think) Copache Buzz disappeared and left the other three to do an amazing Spread Eagle Beagle. They were joined by an extra drummer playing the middle of the kit, but I didn't recognise him (anyone know?). Jared shouted "THIS IS A PROTEST SONG ABOUT THE VIETNAM WAR" and then sung the Vietnam Rag (you might know it - http://history.sandiego.edu/GEN/snd/vietnamrag.html - ) right at the front of the stage. He sung it really slowly as the really slow drums pounded away behind him. His voice was put through loads of effects. It was pitched up and down and echoing all over the place. It made me feel like I was descending into hell or something.
This continued for a good long while! People were leaving in their droves (Slint were playing about 500m away straight afterwards) and a stage manager guy kept holding up fingers telling the band how many minutes they had left! They kept on going right up until the end of their slot. It was really funny and the whole set was quite easily my favourite Melvins performance.
That is all!
If anyone has any photos that would be great because I was enjoying myself too much to take any (apart from one horrendously dark one).
Great review, thanks a lot Andy! It's cool to read they played the songs in different order, and that Spread Eagle Beagle version sounds very interesting. Good to hear they brought in something special again.
holy crap, that sounds cool.
Quote from: Andy on June 04, 2007, 01:31:39 PM
I was pleased to see em on the biggest stage of the festival with video screens and crazy cameras lurking about just above the crowd.
This is my favourite part of your review. Could this mean an official DVD of Houdini live? I hope so.
Just from what they've said before I don't know if this will happen. It could be part of a huge dvd "Neither Here Nor There" style though. That would be cool. I couldn't see much of the video screen from where I was but there were at least three cameras so i'm sure it was quite nice. Here are the poor quality pictures I didn't promise:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/mug_mug_mug/n61405991_34072001_2926.jpg)
(with labelling)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/mug_mug_mug/n61405991_34071998_2209.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/mug_mug_mug/fdsdfsfsdfsdfsdf.jpg)
Quote from: Andy on June 05, 2007, 12:37:26 PM
Just from what they've said before I don't know if this will happen. It could be part of a huge dvd "Neither Here Nor There" style though. That would be cool. I couldn't see much of the video screen from where I was but there were at least three cameras so i'm sure it was quite nice. Here are the poor quality pictures I didn't promise:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/mug_mug_mug/n61405991_34072001_2926.jpg)
(with labelling)
v
Ha ha, great picture, I love crowd pictures. Thanks! The girl laughing hysterically under the
E cracks me up.