Concorde 2, 5th October 2010
Budget mic’d up amps and cheap guitars, middle-aged men in shirts; it could be a pub covers band. Then they start playing and that image fades away with a gut tearing garage-band opening, and the audience go wild.
From the genre defining Sub-Pop label, this quintessential ‘grunge’ band share ties with other Northwest bands from back in the day, such as Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and Alice in Chains. Mudhoney have still got their vibe and vocalist Mark Arm’s sound is the same now as it was in 1988 – the cadence of his voice untouched from recordings on “Superfuzz Bigmuff”.
Comparable bands from the era would struggle to deliver such a viscious attack 22 years on. Bigmuff tones and searing delayed vocals were delivered with aplomb, “Sweet young thing (ain’t sweet no more)” made an early appearance and then Arm did away with his guitar, giving him the freedom to rock his front man persona.
From this point on it was like watching a limbs-flailing, camp Arthur Brown or Iggy Pop, a bit of Scott Weiland of Stone Temple Pilots, with the acceptable craziness of Mike Patton thrown in.
There was a clear element of nostalgia to this show. The first album was played almost in its entirety, a Sub-pop t-shirted stage diver and constant mosh pit kept this evening in the Concorde 2 in a bit of a time warp.
With a mid set reference to local Mod shop and Drummer Dan Peters, and then Bassist Guy Maddison confiding after the gig that it had been one of the best shows on the tour, we look forward to another Mudhoney show some time soon.
Words by Andrew Antill
Photography by Andrew Antill
myspace.com/mudhoney
What did you think of the gig?
Name: Sarah
“Fu*king brilliant, loved the hair” 10/10
Name: Johnny
“I liked the haircuts from jump the gun, I thought it was great man, best band I’ve seen in ages” 10/10
Name: Mrs G
“Absolutely fu*king brilliant, loved them since the 90’s” 10/10
Name: Justin
“I didn’t know who they were but they were actually awesome!” 8/10
