Mission of Burma - Bowery Ballroom (New York) - Saturday, June 14, 2008

On a night filled with strange and stormy weather, MISSION OF BURMA made our trip to New York worth it by putting on an absolutely fantastic show. Having now seen them five times overall and three times at this great venue, this may just be the best performance I’ve ever seen them do. While it wasn’t the greatest setlist (how can it be when no songs from their landmark full-length debut Vs were played? They saved those for the next night, when they played it in order), they just seem to keep getting better with age, proving to any naysayers that reunited old bands can not only be vital and thrilling, but kick the ass of most 20 year olds in terms of sheer energy as well!

This show was different from any of their previous reunion shows because it was the first time they played their debut EP Signals, Calls and Marches, in its entirety. The next night, they followed it up by playing their full-length debut album Vs in its entirety. Now I’ve always been more of a fan of Vs, but I still jumped at the chance to see this show because I love Signals as well.

Opening with “Peking Spring” followed by “Playland” (an early ‘80s number which they rerecorded for 2004’s comeback album OnOffOn), they then proceeded to play five or six more songs from their earliest days. These included their astonishing first single “Academy Fight Song” and its B-side “Max Ernst”, aptly describing one of the band’s influences with its cries of “dada” in the outro. Mission of Burma wasn’t and isn’t all about dada, however. They play avant-garde music that you can still shake your fist to and sing along with and nowhere is there more evident than on the super catchy “Academy Fight Song”. After a while, the main part of the show (their Signals, Calls and Marches EP played from start to finish) got going and the often-covered (I can recall versions by CATHERINE WHEEL, MOBY and PEGBOY though I know others have done it as well) “That’s When I Reach for My Revolver” blasted out into the club, audience members once again singing along and hanging on every word. Overall, just about every song they played bettered the recorded version. In particular, the entire night I was marveling at ROGER MILLER’s guitar sound. It sounded so huge that it was almost like it was capable of shooting down small planes and the dynamic rhythm section of bassist CLINT CONLEY and drummer PETER PRESCOTT responded in turn with an aggressive barrage of their own. Miller and Conley traded off vocals and it was evident that they were having an absolute blast up there. It’s great to see a band that’s been around for almost three decades (though admittedly they were inactive for almost two of those decades) still enthusiastic about playing material that’s over a quarter of a century old!

The show didn’t end with Signals’ closing cut, the instrumental stomper “All World Cowboy Romance”. They came out for two encores, the first of which oddly consisted of several tracks from 2006’s The Obliterati. I say “oddly” not because I don’t like that album. In fact, at the time it was my favorite album of that year. However, this night was about the old stuff and while the performances of perennial favorites from that record like “2wice” and the incredible “Donna Sumeria” were fine, they just didn’t seem to fit. Nevertheless, they came out again for a second encore and performed their take on PERE UBU’s “Heart of Darkness”, which I’d never heard them play before. Now if only we can get them to start playing the incredible WIPERS epic “Youth of America” again!

Overall this night was a smashing success. My only regret is not being able to see the Vs show the next night, though thankfully we’ll be seeing them play it next month at this year’s Pitchfork Music Festival. I can’t wait!

The above photo is from the photostream of forklift and is used with permission.