Sounding like they never left in the first place, classic SST band the Meat Puppets rocked the Bluebird Theater on Jan. 24. Photos by .
It’s been a while since we last heard from , but as it turns out, the old SST Records band is still around and kicking out the country-punk tunes with a surprising sense of energy and relevance. The band returned to the last week to prove that they still have a few songs left in them — if not a lot of music left to play.
The set rarely delved into the band’s hardcore past. Instead it focused on the dirty, punk-informed brand of alt-country the band refined throughout the ’90s. The music was solid, and the band was tight — playing off one another and occasionally jamming an intro or outro as if they had never split up. They unsurprisingly closed the night out with a ferociously melodic take on the radio hit “Backwater” and a sped-up, hardcore-kissed “Lake of Fire” — the latter of which is the song Kurt Cobain made famous by covering (with the Puppets backing him) on Nirvana’s “Unplugged” special. –Ricardo Baca
Check out photo essay on the night below.
is a Denver photographer and a regular contributor to Reverb.
