POP MUSIC REVIEW : Sonic Intensity From Dinosaur Jr.

Party lights are the last things you’d expect to see decorating the stage at a Dinosaur Jr. concert.

J Mascis, the leader of this acclaimed Amherst, Mass.-based trio, specializes in songs about fractured or unreachable relationships--anxious tales rarely accompanied by the slightest twinkle of hope.

But the stage crew placed strings of the green, blue and red lights on some potted trees before Dinosaur Jr. took the stage Saturday at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium for one of the most captivating rock performances since Ministry’s series of shows on last year’s “Lollapalooza” tour.

Rather than brighten things emotionally in the otherwise darkened area, the lights cast a lonesome glow that suggested the feel of a barroom in the moments past closing time.

To add to the melancholy mood, two classic, country-flavored Charlie Rich recordings were played on the sound system: “A Woman Left Lonely” and “Life’s Little Ups and Downs,” just the kind of sad, sentimental jukebox tales that are ideal for someone trying to drown his sorrows.

When the records ended, the band walked on stage and Mascis began playing his guitar with the loud, howling, siren-like intensity for which he is known. But the instrument was apparently out of tune, and he stopped after about 15 seconds to switch guitars.

When the audience cheered playfully, as if he had finished his first number, the notoriously deadpan Mascis flashed a rare bit of humor. “Thank you, thank you,” he said, smiling.

It was the evening’s final touch of levity.

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For the next hour, Mascis played with a white-heat force that, on the surface, was wholly the opposite of the smooth, accessible, comforting tone of the Rich hits. Yet there is a similar sense of vulnerability and search embedded in Mascis’ songs and playing.

The band plays at such overpowering volume that the words of Mascis’ songs are virtually incomprehensible unless you are familiar with its records. Still, there is an eloquence and grace to his playing that gives it a cleansing power.

While there is more of a delicate balance between words and music on record, Mascis--far more than most performers--sees concerts as an entirely different experience. It’s almost as if he--like Ministry’s Al Jourgensen or the hard-rocking side of Neil Young--feel their torrents of sound offer the kind of liberating element that is needed on those days and nights when more conventional pop sounds no longer suffice.

On Saturday, on a bill with the engaging Redd Kross and the disposable Gumball, Mascis and Dinosaur Jr. were at their liberating best.