Dinosaur Jr at Troxy

Dinosaur Jr

Naima Bock

Troxy, 23 May 2025

After seeing Dinosaur Jr. play all of one of their most beloved albums (or certainly one of their most successful anyway), Where You Been, just over a year ago, they are back and this time playing all of the follow-up, Without A Sound, for its 30th anniversary at the far more grandiose venue, Troxy.

I initially wasn't sure if I would go to this show, as the Garage gig for the anniversary of Where You Been had been so perfect and satisfying, plus Troxy is a way bigger venue but fate intervened and I ended up with a ticket a friend was selling when they couldn't go. I'm definitely glad I went, as Dinosaur Jr. are always great fun live and the audience was fantastic, but it was evident that Without A Sound is not as good as its predecessor (in fact apparently J. Mascis has himself called it the band's second worst album, which may actually be true).

After securing a plum spot at the front of the stage (naturally in front of Mascis as usual), it was nice to chat with some fellow fans who ran the gamut from teens going to their first gigs (there were a couple in front of me in the queue who were just 16 and had no clue how gigs worked) to older veterans of the scene wearing some pretty incredible vintage tees (I even saw a guy in an Afghan Whigs t-shirt that looked like it was from about 1990!). That must be pretty rewarding for the band and there was definitely a great energy to the show tonight. 

Opening tonight was an artist that I can imagine plays completely into J. Mascis' love of British folk music (he is a self confessed Richard Thompson junkie and apparently the only autograph he has ever asked for is Bridget St. John a couple of years back!). Naima Bock used to be the bassist of South London post-punk band Goat Girl but from the moment she walks on stage in a simple long dress and an acoustic guitar, it was clear this was going to be a different sound. 

She was backed by a full band that consisted of a crazy haired drummer, a bassist and two guitarist/keyboardists, who alternated between instruments. Bock's voice is beautiful and clear with that lovely English folk sound but the songs (most of which came from her most recent album, Below A Massive Dark Land) weren't just acoustic laments but big fleshed out tracks that constantly transformed and reminded me a lot of Fairport Convention at their best. 

Bock admitted that they were very different soundwise to the headliners (she and the band have been the support act for the UK tour) but, although I could hear a lot of talking during the quieter moments, they definitely went down well. Probably the best response she got though was when she played a rather lovely and very faithful version of Aimee Mann's Save Me, which sounded fantastic. I enjoyed her set very much and when she finished,  I definitely was intrigued to check out more of her stuff.

I actually saw Dinosaur Jr. on the Without A Sound tour 30 years ago (how crazy is that?!), which was the first not to feature Murph on drums and of course was during the era that the super talented Mike Johnson was on bass (he worked a lot with Mark Lanegan during this time too but has since disappeared from the public eye). I did wonder how both Murph and Lou Barlow feel about playing these songs that they were not involved in recording or creating but hearing them tonight you would never know it and both put their all into performing every track from the album.

J. Mascis emerged looking suitably cool, with his long wizardy white locks, trucker cap and jazzy shirt, while Barlow's magnificent head of curls looked as impressive as I remembered and Murph looked the completely unchanged, with the drumkit as usual, placed front and centre of the stage.

Starting with maybe Dinosaur Jr.'s biggest hit and one of their best known songs, Feel The Pain (certainly the best song on the album I must say), it was a fantastic high energy start to the show and the crowd immediately went wild.

Obviously there was no surprises initially with the set, as the band just played the album through with hardly a word said (J has always been a man of few words though), and I was pleasantly surprised with how good songs like I Don't Think So and Yeah Right sounded, just beautifully noisy and jangly, bringing back lots of good memories. 

After a while though, I was quite aware that Mascis is partly right: Without A Sound is not their worst album but it isn't in the same league as their best either. It's probably a good draw on tour because it must well be one of the best selling albums, but there definitely wasn't the same magic as hearing all those perfect Where You Been songs at the Garage back in 2023 either. I do wonder how Mascis feels performing the songs too, as it was written and recorded around the time of the death of his father, which can't be easy. I did feel that by the time he had finished the final song, Over Your Shoulder, he was kind of relieved, like, now we can get on with the stuff I want to play!

Not that the audience seemed to notice any of this, as J's guitar solos were as soaring and moving as ever and Barlow was energetically bouncing around his side of the stage, while for the first time in years I saw people (mainly young guys but some girls too) crowd surfing and being lifted by the security guards over the barrier at the front of the stage: they ran back into the crowd, covered in sweat with big grins on their faces! It was like being back in the 1990s, there was something rather wonderful about it.

With Without A Sound all done, the band then delved further back into their catalogue and, getting an even greater response from the crowd, played spirited versions of Little Fury Things, Start Choppin (I will never tire of hearing this live!), Freak Scene (where of course everyone went particularly crazy) and ending the main set with an extended Lou Barlow-sung Gargoyle.

The band didn't take long to return to the stage (the audience were chanting "one more song!" but there wasn't too much pretense they weren't returning I must say, it was pretty quick), and played the most recent of their song that night, Garden from their last album Sweep It Into Space (I would definitely like to hear more of that record live because that song sounded fantastic). 

Then J asked the audience if there was anything anyone wanted to hear, they were open to requests and I screamed for Raisins and believe it or not, they actually played it! I have no clue if it was because of me, because I did hear a couple of others calling for it but I was much closer to the band being right in front of J and before that Barlow commented he couldn't hear what anyone was saying, so I would like to think it was my nice clear call for it that got it played! Barlow said, "we haven't played this one in a while!" and then they launched into an incredible version of the song. What a thrill to hear it and to actually have them play my request (I like to believe it was my request anyway and I'm sticking with it!)

The whole thing ended, as ever, with their electrifying cover of The Cure's Just Like Heaven, which in my humble opinion is superior to the original.

So all in all, I don't think this was best Dinosaur Jr. show I've ever been to, but there was an energy and good feeling to this show that made it so fun to be part of and I'm so glad I didn't miss it!