J Mascis, the most anointed and legitimate of Stoner Rock’s guitar gods, isn’t much into talking. During 90 minutes of horizontal intensity in a room full of soggy cagouls, the furry warmth of hero worship laps up against his famously indifferent approach to crowd interaction.
On a rig stripped back to the point of “Lo-Fi”, one Vox amp, two acoustic guitars and a toy box of pedals is all Mascis needs to create a simmering set giving out old stuff, new stuff, cover versions and 8-bit Otters floating on their backs. Basic never felt so bountiful.
As you would expect, biggest cheers go to the Dinosaur Jr big hitters ‘Out There’ and ‘Ocean In the Way’, allowing Macis to flex those extended solos but the sweet stuff comes from cleaner moments. The recent cover of Phoebe Bridgers’ ‘Motion Sickness’ is pure and memorable, Mascis’ trademark creaking vocal handling the song like a broken bird, same too with the title track from current long player What Do We Do Now, drifting on its bittersweet strum til the inevitable fury of white-hot noodling.
As with the the music, the loud / quiet concept is similarly all over his stage aesthetic. The sequinned Adidas trackie, white hair, trucker cap and glasses are expected, drinking coconut water and Red Bull as he loops together the start of ‘Get Me’ maybe less so. Often, the loop pedal serves only to provide the merest pencil sketch of structure before being completely obliterated by searing distortion and that can blunt the impact of the song – though the sight of Mascis lost in his own world as he leans into shredding is properly mesmerising.
A late switch to full acoustic provides a bonafide set highlight with a rampaging version of ‘Drifter’ from 2014’s Tied to a Star. It’s here that Mascis shows another side to his guitar prowess, intricate acoustic folk with serious fretboard dynamics, like if Led Zeppelin’s ‘Gallows Pole’ had a caravan lovechild with Donovan’s ‘Hurdy Gurdy Man’.
A wave of the hand signals the end of the set before a slight return to play twin covers ‘On The Run’ and a gorgeous version of Mazzy Star’s ‘Fade Into You’. With that, J Mascis, the grizzled, enigmatic, taciturn axe grinder slopes off without a word. He does what he wants, I guess.