I have to begin this review with a short disclaimer. When Mission of Burma first disbanded in 1983, I was only 2 years old. Don’t read into that one way or another—it is to just say that I watched the band with fresh eyes on the stage at their recent appearance at the Double Door. I was just as much of a newcomer reviewing the band for the first time as was any rock critic in 1979 when the band formed.
|
| |
Mission of Burma
|
Double Doors
Chicago, IL
April 10, 2010
|
| |
|
|
That said…
Mission of Burma was greeted by a raucous applause from the many fans that filled up nearly every corner of the Double Door. The trio has been steadily touring since the release of its fourth album, The Sound the Speed the Light (2009). Since the band returned to active work in 2002, its concerts have been described as a seesaw between a complete train wreck and a riveting live experience. That description would also probably apply to the band’s early days. In many ways, the creative output from the band since 2002 shouldn’t be thought of as the band picking up where it left off in 1983 but rather making up for lost time.
Original members Roger Miller, Clint Conley and Peter Prescott have managed to carve out an identity that makes sense to them at this stage of their lives. In some ways, Miller’s tinnitus that forced the band to discontinue left such a large question mark on what the band could have accomplished in the years afterwards that the band’s return in 2002 came off as more of a new beginning than the usually clichéd old rockers reunion to relive the glory days.
From the outset, Mission of Burma got right in the crowd’s face and never faltered. The sheer abandonment filling each song, like the opener “1001 Pleasant Dreams” and “1,2,3 Partyy!”, didn’t carry the band as it energized it to leap beyond the songs into areas of manic aggression and darkness. From 2006’s The Obliterati, “Donna Sumeria” hypnotized the room with Miller’s phasing guitar riff that would have made Rush’s Alex Lifeson salivate in joy. Along with Bob Weston (Shellac) working the tape boards, Mission of Burma didn’t fall short once during its nearly two hour show. As musicians, the fluidity between Miller, Conley and Prescott could almost be compared to that of the Keith Moon-era of The Who or a close contemporary like The Jam. There was an unspoken connection between the members of Mission of Burma that would drive each member to explore all aspects of a song without fear of botching a note.
The opening bars of “Academy Fight Song” had many inside the Double Door bouncing off the dance floor and off the walls. For this writer, having been first introduced to the song by R.E.M.’s 1989 cover, to watch the Boston trio wield the song in all its sweat and glory was like hearing the song for the very first time, filled with naked excitement. Conley’s slicing vocals accompanied by Miller’s quaking guitar crunch drove the song to great heights, while Prescott’s rolling drums accentuated the underlying frenzy simmering through Conley’s vocals. And as the band concluded a second encore with “That’s When I Reach For My Revolver,” the sense that Mission of Burma was in top form all night was made official.
Powered by AkoComment 2.0!
