J MASCIS
JIMI SHIELDS + SUZANNE THORPE
Belfast Limelight
25th November 2002

Its hard to put into words just how excited I was by the prospect of seeing J Mascis in my very own Belfast. I thought I could have considered myself lucky, if he had played a set of songs by "The Fog" and thrown in one Dinosaur track. Maybe Freakscene.
The most important thing would be that the man who was primarily responsible for "Where you been?" - and thus my first adolescent forays into the 'alternative' scene (whatever that is) - would be on a stage no more than thirty feet from me. Perhaps some of his immense fragility and skill and cool would pass to me via osmosis....perhaps.
Needless to say, we got there early to get the seats facing the stage. However, in a rather sweet gesture, these had been cordoned off for the family of Jimi Shields. Jimi and Suzanne Thorpe were providing support for the night.
Jimi and Suzanne played a very chilled out set of acoustic guitar and electric flute which was mesmerising and more dreamy than Mercury Rev, who both are, or have been involved with. For the last three tunes of their set though, they were joined by J on drums.
And it was a sterling performance, asserting the man's near un-ending talents before he even started his own set. I don't recall if any track titles were given, or if any mention was made of a furthering of this trio's development - but I hope there is - so it was all quite an unexpected, mysterious treat.
And so J finished checking his pedal connections and seated himself infront of an expectant crowd. He seems smaller and larger than I expected at the same time, like he wants to play but doesn't want everyone looking at him. But the set is what's important and it was astounding! We got primarily Dinosaur classics like we'd never heard before. His last solo release "Martin and Me" was recorded live on an acoustic tour and, while good, it lacked something. It lacked the tearing electric guitars that completed all those brilliantly-crafted, brittle songs of love requited and not.
I had no idea that one man could make so much noise. During Freakscene, (which came so close to the start of the set that we knew it could only get better and better) he was playing base notes and soloing in a fantastic precision flurry at the same time. I couldn't believe my luck when I also got to hear Thumb, Flying Cloud, Goin Home, Grab it, Repulsion, Drawerings, and a version of Get Me that I will never forget. He was almost motionless apart from the fingers playing a totally absorbing solo which never seemed to repeat itself. The switches from pitch-perfect acoustic to nasty, sleazy distortion attacks were so accurate and enthralling, that the crowd were completely hushed, until the song ended and we tried to comprehend seeing such a spectacular, then there was thunderous applause.....me and my mates all stood up, but I was so delirious, I don't know if anyone else did. For me, this was gig of the year. I have never left a show feeling so elated and at the same time being really worried that such an opportunity won't present itself again....but I did get an autograph to enhance things slightly more. If you get a chance to see this man, do it.

by PhatBob