CONCERT REVIEW

DKT/MC5
Metro
Chicago, Ill.
June 11, 2004

Entertainment
Art

Story and photos by BRIAN MALCOLM

Ask any rock musician with lasting power in the last 35 years for a short list of their influences. The MC5 are bound to be near the top.

Not bad for a band whose tenure only lasted three short years, ending in 1972. It, however, is also not surprising, if your ears have ever been graced with their sound.

After a warmly-received reunion show (of the three surviving members and a multitude of guest musicians) at London's 100 Club in March, Michael Davis, Wayne Kramer and Dennis Thompson decided to embark on an entire reunion tour. For this, they recruited Mark Arm of Mudhoney and Evan Dando of the Lemonheads to fill out the band.

The Motor City band played the Metro in Chicago, and it surely brought back memories of their Chicago gig with a little political bent to it. The 1968 Democratic convention featured crazed hippies, cops with clubs, and the MC5.

At the show, Arm and Dando were a perfect fit to re-create the vocals, because both fronted bands that were heavily influenced by the MC5. The chemistry between them was so strong that you'd swear they had been singing together for a lifetime.

Handing these duties to such able musicians kept the original MC5 members focused on their task at hand: creating a solid wall of distorted, accessible melodies which were quite obviously years ahead of their time, and remained timeless for years to come.