I'm not sure how often former guitarist Mat Brooke shows up at Band of Horses concerts these days, but he watched this one at the very edge of the stage, seemingly poised to hop up at any point to make an amazing guest appearance. Didn't happen. Oh well. I liked BoH better as a five-piece, but their set last night was still solid.

Dino Jr's set was an interesting balance of old and new; considering that their previous "comeback" tour was devoted entirely to the band's first three records, it seems fair that they dedicated about half of last night's setlist to Beyond. Sadly, Mascis suffered from at least one busted stack, as a Neumo's soundguy was shining a flashlight on the band's rig for the entire first third of the show. When this was fixed, they still stumbled, most evidently on the bummer of a guitar solo ending in "Pick Me Up"--you go to a Dino Jr show for Mascis' masterful solos, and this one from the new record was the one I was most anxious to hear live, so its sloppiness was a pretty big setback.

But other badass moments made up for it, like the killer version of "Back To Your Heart" and the minutes-long ass-whipper of a solo that closed the band's first set. Unlike your Malmsteens and Stevie Rays, Mascis gets the importance of the riff within the solo, fusing the best of both classic rock and metal guitar heroism. Shame they didn't have someone up at the front of the stage to blow a fan at Mascis' flowing, grey locks during said solo, but, hey...can't win them all.