Live Review: Dinosaur Jr, Luluc

There were some worrying moments leading up to the start of Dinosaur Jr's Australian tour, with news that visa issues for Lou Barlow resulted in a delayed flight. It all got sorted, but there was more drama to come.

Luluc had opening honours, as they have for a number of J Mascis solo shows in the USA. Minor technical issues dotted their set, but didn't detract from the duo's near-telepathic interplay. Some may have pegged them as a folky pair, but they imbued their songs with just the right amount of grit, drone and frayed guitar sounds to take them closer to a band like Low. In front of a crowd eagerly awaiting the sonic might of Dinosaur Jr, they proved to be an entrancing support act.

As mentioned above, it was a relief to see the shaggy-haired Barlow saunter on stage but, worryingly, Dinosaur Jr's drummer Murph was nowhere to be seen (replaced by Kyle Spence of American band Harvey Milk and the onetime stickman for J Mascis' The Fog). J Mascis ambled to the mic and mumbled, "Your government wouldn't let Murph into the country so we brought Kyle," (Murph has since made it into the country and will play all remaining shows on the tour). The mood in the room shifted to unease but as soon as they launched into their first song it was clear the replacement guy had the chops to nail the songs. From there it was down to business with a mix of the old and the new with last year's Give A Glimpse Of What Yer Not album providing particular highlights in Goin Down and the monstrous Sabbath riffage of I Walk For Miles; showcasing the band's ability to harness speed, melody and heaviness. Classic cuts peppered the set with The Wagon, Feel The Pain, Freak Scene and Start Choppin drawing the biggest crowd responses with flailing limbs and nostalgic grins plastered across middle-aged faces. On opposite sides of the stage, Mascis and Barlow were split personalities in their physicality: Mascis the zen-like figure in the eye of a hurricane, extracting paint-pealing solos and buzzsaw chords while Barlow thrashed about, a whirling dervish in perpetual motion in total harmony with the dense thrum of his bass.

Drummer aside, this was exactly what we've come to expect from Dinosaur Jr and their unique brand of self-described "ear-bleeding country".