It seems a lot of bands lately, from Queens of the Stone Age to Weezer to A Perfect Circle, are playing shows which feature a selected album in its entirety, with maybe a handful of extra songs as encores. Not to be outdone, the Melvins – those influential grandfathers of rock and sludge – decided to go a similar route. Only, the Melvins never quite do things like everyone else. Instead of just doing one album and one show, they picked several albums to cover and over the course of two nights. And since they feature two drummers, Dale Crover and Coady Willis, the duplicity seemed fitting.

The first night, Monday May 17^th at the Great American Music Hall (GAMH) in San Francisco, had the Melvins diving into the classics 1992′s Lysol, 1991′s Eggnog, and 1993′s Houdini, while the May 18^th show, brought in excerpts from 1994′s Stoner Witch and 1991′s Bullhead. Naturally, the shows attracted a lot of longtime Melvins fans who were eager to see a lot of the albums performed in near entirety. With so many albums under their belt (17!), these shows allowed the band to pay more attention to songs which would have been overlooked on a normal show’s setlist.

Monday started off on a quiet, experimental note (though keep in mind, when I say it’s quiet for the Melvins, it’s still really freaking loud). The band played through Lysol and Eggnog EP with a spacey, grungey vibe, prompting a lot of slow headbanging and puffs of marijuana smoke from the crowd. King Buzzo (Buzz Osborne) stoicly commanded the stage in his trademark robe and crystal clear guitar. Bassist Jared Warren wore what looked to be a milkman’s uniform while tireless drummers, Willis and Crover , made wearing Viking gear look easy. Though the first few songs weren’t as “rock and roll” as usual, the audience got more into by the time songs such as “Sacrifice” came on. A long intermission followed, prompting a little impatience from the crowd. When Houdini rolled on in, that’s when the mosh pit really lit up, creating endless pummeling from the crowd. By the time it was all over, nearly three hours later, everyone looked enthralled but exhausted.

Photo by Karina Halle

Cut to the next night for Stoner Witch and Bullhead, and you wouldn’t have known the crowd (or the band) had been rocking out the night before. Off the bat, the Melvins plowed into the hard and heavy, with Osborne driving the points home with his guitar and the drummers showing off their superhero-esque, well-timed skills. Songs such as “Zodiac“ and the aptly-named “Shoved“ had the audience on (and off) their feet as the waves of headbanging, moshing, and pushing flowed from the front of the stage to the back of the venue and forward again. Cheering, applause, hooting, and hollering let the band know how much the fans were into it, feeding their own performance and raising the energy levels up until it was almost too much for the tiny GAMH to take.

Yet, the venue survived, as did the crowd – though perhaps with a bit of ear damage. If you’re going to lose your hearing eventually, it might as well be to the mighty Melvins.

Photography by Karina Halle.
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Gallery by Karina Halle

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