7/30/13 - Hartford, CT - Arch St Tavern

[the_consumer]

At least my 15th time seeing the Melvins.

Stood right in front of Buzz.

The audience was full of typical dudes.

The band played the same setlist and rocked really fucking hard.

It was the absolute smallest stage I've ever seen them play on.

I swear I heard bits of drum jams including Pigs of the Roman Empire songs, the HAT drum intro, and A History of Bad Men. No sign of Amazon like someone mentioned in another show review thread.

It was during these weird between-song drum duels that I got the idea for the Melvins to do a show where they play every song on every album, but just a quick snippet into an insane montage. I'll leave it to someone else to pass that idea to Buzzo though.

I also noticed Buzzo smiling quite a bit during the show, seemingly to himself or perhaps as result of some of the exuberant fans.

Weird fucking fans this band has. The Melvins BBS people are probably on the more normal end of the spectrum. So many drunk bros with cellphones. So many aggressive people who had to cram the fuck together.

Look, in my ideal world, every show I go to provides me a front row seat- with a couch to sprawl out on. But that's not reality. Still, don't spill your beer on me, don't push shorter girls out of the way, and just back the fuck off. Your view at 13 feet away is the same as it is at 8 feet. Sheesh.

I got a weird HD angle leaving my video camera onstage pointing up at Buzz and the drums. Also got some audio; maybe I will get around to uploading it some day... but I say that every year.

It was really nice to see them somewhere other than Boston for a change! I'm a Massachusetts native but I hate that city. Arch Street Tavern was max capacity of 200 people and it seemed pretty full but was probably the most intimate time I've seen them.

Dale Crover looks like he's about to die any minute. He's looked like that every time I've seen him, in this century at least. Watching him play full-throttle for Honky was quite a treat, then Cody comes out and it gets amped up a ton more notches.

This band is so fucking amazing. Feels so good to hear their songs live. Highlights were definitely Hag Me and Lysol, and the newer tracks were really good too.

Nice fit. Good night.

[black stallion]

they don`t play Amazon.it`s just a drum intro they used during past tours to introduce that song.

[Dan_Halen]

The show was great! Honky ripped it,I am now a fan. Then Melvins absolutely destroyed it with a killer set. My only complain was the sound. It was so loud it was totally distorted and impossible to make out the vocals. I guess having an audio background can be somewhat of a curse and maybe I am too picky but others told me the same thing. It was a pretty small club and it almost felt like they were trying to push a small pa to the level of a stadium or something. Even so, the energy and talent of the band still shined through. The only merch bummer was there weren't any XL clown shirt packs left. I settled for the cheeseburger shirt, and got the the Napalm Death Sugar Daddy as well as a Walsby original mocking the Nevermind album cover. The other cool thing was I got to meet Dale in between sets when he stepped outside after Honky. I tried to make it brief, I just walked up and said" I just wanna say I've loved you ever since I was a little kid man!" Shook his hand and then walked away. He smiled really big when i said that too, which made me feel cool about doing it. It's always a great night when you get to see the Melvins.






(Spotted the case outside and laughed guessing it happened during Bash 13 maybe?)

[blacksanta]

Goddammit, they dropped the bloat and queen?

[Grayfro]

Yea, ain't that a muthafukka!

[kdools]

Awesome show.  Place was so small though.  I was standing probably 5 people back from the stage and couldn't see Cody or Dale at all. I caught glimpses but it was kind of a bummer.  Pretty much watched Buzz the whole time.  Lysol was so fucking loud it was incredible.  Definite highlight for me.

[Hot Pants]

i had a blast. got there early and spent some time chatting with Brian Walsby, really cool guy. bought my first Walsby original as well.

zero shirts in medium of course, oh well. got my first letterpress (POTRE), and a Bash cd.

the place is small, so we were crammed in there pretty good. sound wasnt amazing unfortunately, could have been worse. but it a nice cozy place, bartenders, door guys, and bouncers were all awesome. a big plus for sure.

awesome to see Melvins in Hartford. dunno if they'll ever play the place again, but im very happy not to have missed it.

[jules]

got my first letterpress

Welcome to the club. Let the obsession begin.

[Hot Pants]

got my first letterpress

Welcome to the club. Let the obsession begin.

probably not going to happen. but we'll see.

[jlamour]

(Spotted the case outside and laughed guessing it happened during Bash 13 maybe?)

That's great!   

[GrimReaper]

Great reviews!