Mudhoney

I first saw Mudhoney in 1990 and they utterly blew me and my 18-year-old brain away. They were heavy, nasty, garagey, dorky, stupid, fun, intense and everything you want from a band when you're a teenager. Obviously being part of the Seattle scene helped them gain a global notoriety, but while the likes of Nirvana stole the headlines, Mudhoney retained their cult status. They've never been pure pop, but their songs - imbued and underpinned with a real sense of history of psych, blues, punk and garage rock - have always had an iconic feel to them, with real a unique wow factor to them.

So I try to see them every time they're in town, and the past few times I've seen them they've seemed relaxed, and really happy with where they are in their lives and careers. And they're still heavy as hell.

After excellent support sets from Barton Carroll and Wolf People, the band strode onto stage, glasses of red wine in hand, raising them to the crowd.

It was more or less a greatest hits set, with piledrivers like Suck You Dry and Into The Drink kicking things off, and then favourites like Sweet Young Thing Ain't Sweet No More, Touch Me I'm Sick, This Gift, You Got It, Hate The Police and Here Comes Sickness sprinkled throughout the rest of the set. Two songs I wasn't expecting and hadn't heard for a LONG time live were Flat Out Fucked (from their second LP), and You Stupid Asshole (from a rare split-12in EP with Gas Huffer) were also in there. And, of course, there was an eternally epic version of In 'N Out Of Grace in the encore, with The Money Will Roll Right In to finish things off.

Just a terrific show, packed full of old favourites, as well as songs from their last LP.

A note about the atmosphere. There was a nice gender split at the gig, which made for a really great, non-aggressive vibe. People danced and danced hard, but without any teeth-gritting nastiness.

As for Mudhoney, they've still got it after 27 years and can quite rightly be called legends.

If you believe in the alternative universe theory, then there’s definitely one somewhere where Mudhoney are the biggest band on the planet; an alternate reality where they were grunge’s chosen ones, plucked from the obscurity of Seattle’s dive bars in the early 90s to go conquer the world. But while their contemporaries Nirvana imploded in tragic fashion, we can perhaps be thankful that fame and fortune never came knocking for Mark Arm and co. – they are, after all, still making records and playing shows with the energy of a band who will forever be able to channel the angst, energy and bratty humour of their early 20s. While not afraid to reel off crowd pleasing classics (barely a set goes by without ‘Touch Me I’m Sick’ or ‘Sweet Little Thing Ain’t Sweet No More’ getting blasted from the stage), Mudhoney is very much not a nostalgia act. Though everyone from the Pixies to the Replacements took huge breaks before returning and raking in the big bucks, Mudhoney have consistently released fine record after fine record for going on three decades, giving them a huge body of work to draw from. Now back on their spiritual home of Sub Pop Records (Mark Arm works in their warehouse, no less), their shows have both an air of contentment with their place in recent rock history about them, and a feeling that there’s still something excellent around the corner.

There is a slight injustice when you consider the large sound Washington grunge rock outfit Mudhoney create still remains confined to some of the UK's smaller venues due to their niche appeal and lack of real commerciality. The fact they could play rings around the likes of Kasabian and Muse who continue to sell out arenas makes it all the more unjustified yet for everybody gathered in the intimate Institute in Birmingham, they feel as though they are in on some secret everybody else is missing out on.

You would never guess the boys have only made one appearance on the US charts with the force the fans sing along to the choruses of 'Good Enough' and 'Into the Drink'. Tonight is also about showcasing newer material with those characteristic riffs remaining ever present for 'What to Do With the Neutral'. The adoration from the audience is clear when the band returns for a momentous seven song encore featuring old favourites, new instrumental reworking and a couple of redesigned cover versions. Mudhoney simply does grunge well, and no amount of album sales are needed to back up this fact.

...I didn't go to the show because I went with friends the following night in Oakland (Where I live) and would have went solo on Sunday night at the Chapel in SF.

Note - I couldn't resell my ticket to the Sunday night show because it was a "Will Call" tickets only show (thanks a bunch Chapel). Plus the Vestry Bar is too effin loud with pretentious hipster wannabes, the drinks are too expensive, the bartenders are rude and in the music venue, there are no places to sit, other than the balcony.

The Oakland show was awesome, by the way. Fuzz kicked ass! Mudhoney was great, too. No opening act. Cool and intimate venue. Screw the city, the shift is across the bay - the Town is where it is happening, now. Or, didn't you know that?

Had my first “festival experience “ to this band in 1990, drifting in and out of consciousness to in and out of grace.
Best part of 30 years later I get the chance to see them again at St Luke’s. Never been here before but what an excellent venue, good size, atmospheric and good sound.
Mudhoney were a bit of a revelation, not just noise and energy, but more musicianship than I’d given them credit for. They were very obviously enjoying themselves, and put on a great show. Energy, enthusiasm and good tunes, right up my street. Not so sure me 18 year old daughter was quite so enthusiastic though....very screamy was her review!

Fans tastic no one plays like Mudhoney.on it again in Notts tonight After driving down to Brighton at 4 am on Tuesday morning and back up to Notts today I was greted by Dan on his pushbike crossing the road so stopped for a banter on last nights gig with him all good. sweet young thing ain't sweet no more !!!!

Fantastic show. Pure engergy from the legendary Grunge rockers who gave a very good performance. Giving us songs from Superfuzz, Mudhoney, My Brother the Cow and never albums it was a journey through most of the catalouge.
Also noteworthy was the support band cosmic psycho!

I bet the show was awesome. I bet FUZZ was epic. I decided not to go. It's a Tuesday night. Why does L.A. get all the good shows on Sunday and Tuesday?

I decided to stay in.

I am not going to bother buying any more Sunday or Tuesday night show tickets any more.

Mark Arm still fucking screaming like there is no tomorrow at 57yrs old. And the band is fucking rad. They played for over an hour with 30 mins encore. When Mark stopped playing guitar he screamed even loud. Unbelievable.

Saw them on the 23rd of march, 2025. Awesome show. Band looked like they were in a good mood, played well. The crowd was very energetic but not violent. I hope to see them again whenever they come back.