Melvins classic moments

[Mecha Mummy Jr.]

Earlier this year, I went to see the Imperial Death March Tour with friends in Minneapolis. Neither friend, a married couple who I've been friends with for about a decade, were overly familiar with any of the groups, but I was in a bit of a bind since a friend of mine had a temporary job of hers fuck up and send her plane ticket a week early, which meant she couldn't come (and she couldn't pay for her half of rooms, rental car, etc.). Those two friends stepped up and offered to drive me there (which allowed me to not have to pay for a rental car), but I still felt a bit bad knowing they might hate every single band on the bill.

So, we're at the show. First goofy thing that happens is my friend leans over and tells me "I expected Napalm Death to be less melodic, they're pretty good!" during the Melvins set (thanks to weird parking conditions, we missed Melt-Banana altogether, which they apologized for 37 times). I guess because the tour had ND's banner during everybody's set, plus my attendance was largely for the Melvins (although I do like ND a lot, and I enjoy Melt-Banana). I explain to her that we're watching the Melvins at that moment, which starts the apologizing again, because she figures due to my interest being primarily in the Melvins, that must mean we missed Napalm Death. She has assumed they are the headliners. Then, when Shane Embury comes out to play a song with the Melvins, she exclaims to me "Is that Murderface?!?!?", which I never considered but admitted there was definitely a passing resemblance, although personally, I think his hair reminds me more of the brown dog guy (Sam?) from the Electric Teeth band from the Muppets. Then, when ND take the stage, Barney charms the fuck out of my friends with his accent and super polite demeanor.  And then, introduces a replacement guitarist, who he assures us "Despite the hairstyle, this man is not a juggalo". Which got a pretty big collective laugh from the crowd and our group. Unfortunately, it was standing room only and my leg had been bothering me the whole day and only got worse by the time ND took the stage. I stayed for about 5-6 songs and then we bailed. And ordered pizza from a Gaelic/Irish themed place which was really fucking good. Quite the evening, full of confusion, amusement, and a really strong set by the Melvins.