THE MEAT PUPPETS’ SINGULAR VISION

Have you ever wondered what kind of music the children of the Grateful Dead’s legion of Dead-heads would get into? The answer was provided at a packed Variety Arts Center on Friday as a new generation of long-haired heads mixed with former art-punks to see the Meat Puppets. The Arizona trio might have once been beyond the cutting edge of dissonant rock noise, but with its last few records filled with laid-back Southwestern surrealism, the Puppets have become the kind of outfit that brings out the tie-die in people.

Along with the band’s musical evolution (featuring country-funk rhythms, liquidy guitar lines and the lazy drawl of Curt Kirkwood’s vocals) has come an increased tightening of the group’s live act. Friday, the Puppets focused in on playing everything as rock-hard as possible, overpowering a lot of the more unique and intimate aspects of the music with sloppy chops galore. Still, this is a group with a singular vision, playing toward the kind of organic, cathartic ecstasy that most bands leave behind at their accountant’s office. When the elements clicked these Puppets were transcendent. When they were off, they were still never less than one of the best bands this side of the dark star.