Live Review: the Melvins at Metro Chicago

Buzz Osbourne of the Melvins - Curt Baran (c) 2023

Dale Crover of the Melvins - Curt Baran (c) 2023

Writing and Photography by Curt Baran
Edited by Fiza Javid

September 8th, 2023 - Chicago, Illinois

"I found grace inside a sound."

Buzz Osborne is walking tight circles, stage right side at Chicago’s venerable club Metro. He and his band Melvins have played the space countless times before, but there’s something about a sold out show that helps amp up the energy. His guitar belches out spacious, scuzzy riffs perfectly placed for maximum effect.

Now entering their fourth decade as a band, it seems improbable that they still exist. Melvins do not make polite music and there isn’t anything remotely mainstream about their material. Yet, here they’ve found themselves, 40 years later, still rupturing ear drums and free of apologies.

Both Osborne and drummer Dale Crover have remained the only constant members, yet somehow the band’s aesthetic has rarely changed. Bass player Steven Shane McDonald held down the menacing low end during “It’s Shoved,” “Ligature” and “Your Blessened.”

He even brought a sense of showmanship, dropping a handful of requisite rock posses. Underneath it all, for the entirety of the evening, was Crover, hitting his cans with what sounded like fireplace logs.

Over the course of a tight and profoundly ugly set of 11 songs, Osborne and his droogs were a sobering reminder that sometimes there’s an audience out there for everyone.

Curt Baran - JBTV Music Television

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The Melvins, Buzz Osbourne, Dale Crover, Metro, Chicago, JBTV Music Television, Jerry Bryant, Fiza Javid, Bobby Talamine