Mudhoney

While Mark Arm can hardly claim to be the voice of a generation, his guttural yell was the most potent and nerve-shredding of his Seattle-based peers. Little has changed in the last 15 years and tonight, as usual, we find Mudhoney playing only partially to its strengths.

This being The Astoria, their already murky sound is steamrollered by the acoustics and, barring the first few rows, fails to deliver the necessary aural damage. That said, as the dynamite ‘Suck You Dry’ is succeeded by (the best grunge song ever) ‘Sweet Young Thing Ain’t Sweet No More’, it’s easy to forgive and forget.

It’s that insistence on doing things their own way that left them at the back of the queue, while the much inferior Soundgarden and Alice In Chains went supernova. No bad thing when the crowd is convulsing over ‘Touch Me I’m Sick’ of course, but sitting through half a set of lukewarm newies is less enticing. When they’re good, they’re awesome… peerless even. But when they’re bad, they’re maddeningly ordinary.