Cardiff, The Globe, 30 Sept 2011

[jules]

After a three-and-a-half hour coach journey from London became a five-and-a-half hour one, the last two hours taken to cover 18 miles, I was ready to put a hole in a few pints and growl at passers-by. Luckily there was a pub next door to the venue and I found the perfect beer (Grumpy Landlord) so I sank a few while I watched the ultra-friendly locals going past and the queue for the gig next door swell to around oh, I'd say, thirteen.

As I approached the venue, there was a blackboard outside and now maybe 20 people queueing. The blackboard said, TONIGHT: MELVIN'S

I walked confidently and purposefully toward the blackboard with the grace of a Victorian school teacher and, in front of the 20 bored fans, licked my fingers and rubbed out the offending apostrophe.

I received a small round of applause! Someone said, "At least it didn't say THE Melvins!"

Met breakup and his partner from Next Door (AmRep Bored) and old ernie in the pub, had another swift one and went inside.

The venue is great to look at, maximum 350 capacity on two levels. It should be too small for a balcony but it works. Kind of like being at the Lilliput Albert Hall. Spoke to Alesh the merch guy who said it would be t-shirts only for the rest of the tour except when the Residency sets arrive in Vienna. Oldernie spotted Dave Curran (Unsane) so we grabbed him and made him talk to us for a bit. He's the sound guy for the tour. Ironic, as he's such a sound guy.

Well, on they came at around 9pm, Jared in his wrong gladiator outfit and Buzz in a muumuu with teeth on it. It looked like he had about six layers on underneath.

They started with Hung Bunny and Roman Dog Bird which is a pretty fucking great place to start a gig at, imo. No huge guitar-only start, either. Long crashes and longer moans until blam! it came in proper. Instantaneous adrenalin surge. Did they do Sacrifice? Can't remember. Something else from Lysol for sure.

The Water Glass, Evil New War God, Amazon and The Talking Horse followed. No speaking in between songs throughout (just like the old days) although the owner of the venue came to stand on the stage and stare at us for a minute or two, and Jared and Dale were sharing a joke for a while but what that was about is anybody's guess.

It's Shoved, Lizzy (everyone went mental for this), The Kicking Machine and Billy Fish followed, around about the time Dale's microphone and monitor both stopped working. No solution was found although both the microphone and monitor were replaced mid-song. Bit of panic amongst some sound people on stage then and it meant Black Bock wasn't played as that was Dale's turn to sing. Oh well.

Then: Up the Dumper, Electric Flower, Queen (another crowd pleaser, so much so, I was given a large vodka to hold (drink) as the owner surfed for a bit. Lots of surfing for this gig; the average age of the kids there was around 22 I think!) It wasn't such a large vodka when he got it back 

At The Stake, Copache, Spread Eagle Beagle, A History of Bad Men and Ligature. Spread Eagle Beagle was just a few minutes of Dale and Coady going mental. Then: all fucking hell broke loose. The Bit almost blew the walls clean off the side of the building. They really let themselves fly for this (things had been a tad constrained up til then; the venue was really small, things were breaking and I don't think the PA could've taken much more of a beating) but now they were fucking awesomely loud and heavy.

Finished with Shevil. Couldn't believe they'd finished, actually. It seemed like they'd gone off early. Just that they'd managed to make nearly two hours feel like 20 minutes, I guess.

Bloody great fun and I can't wait for the next one, which will be a bit bigger with a better sound system.

[anaconda]

Good review, thanks for the breakdown of the set

[(((O)))]

Nice one. Keep the reviews coming Jules and enjoy the ride.

[FartLips]

great review! i hate you!

[buddy holiday]

jules thanks for the cool review. can't wait for friday and saturday now!!

[Der L]

I'm glad someone else reviewed this and did a far better job than I would have.

Some pics (not mine): http://www.flickr.com/photos/luddite1979/tags/melvins/

Hung Bunny/Roman Dog Bird was the only thing from Lysol. Great show.

Buzz sang '... and now she's a scientologist' during Lizzy, has he done this before?

[Metalhead Cow]

I haven't heard him use that one before, but that's funny! Buzz's new teeth mumu looks really cool.

[GrimReaper]

Great review.

[pinkyslim]

Jules, you defintely have talent painting a picture of a MELVINS experience.
How about a MELVINS-tour coffee table book you can implement.
You would be perfect to capture the sights, sounds and smells..


spinal tap goes to an airforce base

[jules]

Jules, you defintely have talent painting a picture of a MELVINS experience.
How about a MELVINS-tour coffee table book you can implement.
You would be perfect to capture the sights, sounds and smells..

The diary's under way; I'll try to keep up with the reviews, but I only write so enthusiastically because my camera's an utter, utter bastard and doesn't work. I can't draw for shit, either.

[oldernie]

[(((O)))]

[Dumpster D]

Is Lizzie about Lisa Marie presley, was she ever a scientologist or something?

I knew she was married to MJ..

uh..

[norecess]

Is Lizzie about Lisa Marie presley, was she ever a scientologist or something?

I knew she was married to MJ..

uh..

you are not alone.

[(((O)))]

Is Lizzie about Lisa Marie presley, was she ever a scientologist or something?

I knew she was married to MJ..

uh..

Looks like that is the case. Looking on her wiki page it says she's into scientology.