Mudhoney & The Meat Puppets – The Forum, London 08/06/13

Whilst most gig goers in town tonight are heading to Finsbury Park to vomit in bushes as The Stone Roses run through their back catalogue, there’s still a sizeable throng present to witness the return of another Nineties act who were, to many, equally important to the shape of the current musical landscape.

The re-emergence of Mudhoney mightn’t bring with it quite the same kind of levels of anticipation – owing to the fact that they never opted for a decade-long break – but their newest LP Vanishing Point does come after their longest gap between records (a whole five years), enough for those who miss them to do so rather forcefully.

They’ve brought with them another gang of rock n’ roll survivors in the shape of The Meat Puppets, making the bill pretty much unmissable for anyone with even a passing interest in first wave grunge. The Arizona four piece, famously covered by Nirvana on their MTV Unplugged In New York LP, were renowned for being amongst the scene’s biggest acid takers, behaviour that is perhaps behind the curious decision to not write any songs in a key in which they could actually sing. The fact that the tunes that Nirvana made famous (‘Oh Me’, ‘Plateau’ and ‘Lake Of Fire’) require serious straining of Chris Kirkwood’s vocal chords doesn’t seem to matter however, as the tangible effort going in to it all is what makes the Meat Puppets so easy to side with.

Though one would forgive them for delivering leaden renditions of that trio of tracks (imagine having not one but three albatrosses around your neck), they play each of them – including a near ten minute ‘Lake of Fire’ to close – with the same joy they provide their lesser known numbers, including a delightfully whistle-heavy new jam to open, and an ill-advised version of The Beach Boys’ take on ‘Sloop John B’ that they seem to love playing, even if those listening to it find it the only moment in which one isn’t quite sharing in their glee.

Mudhoney play it like they always play it; straight up, no nonsense, good time rock and roll, but the fact that it’s difficult to spot major differences in songs that could have been written twenty years apart matters little when those bashing them out are delivering a master class in doing one thing, and doing one thing well. Newer numbers such as Vanishing Point’s shout-along highlight ‘I Like It Small’ and the bratty ‘Chardonnay’ sound decidedly invigorated, but again, no more so than songs like a roof-raising ‘Touch Me I’m Sick’ or still their most menacing number ‘Sweet Young Thing Ain’t Sweet No More’, despite the fact that they should by all rights be bored to tears of playing them by now.

They also come across as decidedly humble, almost embarrassed at the attention even. When frontman Mark Arm moves solely to vocals two thirds of the way in to the set, leaving Steve Turner to ably handle all the guitar work, he spends the first few songs sheepishly rocking back and forward, tentatively judging the crowd’s reaction. It’s not until a good handful of numbers that he’s rolling around the floor screaming, like most of the front five rows. Mudhoney don’t give off an air of thinking that anything they’re doing’s remarkable. But there are hundreds here who disagree.

Photograph by Sara Amroussi-Gilissen. See full Gallery here.