PHOTO REVIEW: The Melvins at The Crocodile and Hells Kitchen

The Melvins played 4 shows in Western Washington a couple weeks ago. They started at the Crocodile, headed back down south to Tacoma to play Hells Kitchen, hightailed it up to Bellingham, then finished the stint at Olympia's historic Capitol Theater. I caught two of the four shows both opened by Totimoshi, the Seattle one of course and also the raucous Hells Kitchen experience. Both shows boasted identical setlists that included extreme high points like "AMAZON", "Black Bock", and 3 covers including the Ramones' "Pinhead", Flipper's "Sacrifice", and Karp's "Bacon Industry". Both shows also included "Night Goat" and the 'Electroretard' version of "Lovely Butterflies". I missed the very end of the Seattle show but am assuming there was an identical Coady/Dale drum off that ended the show much like in Tacoma. The two bashed it out for a few extra minutes after Buzz and Jared walked off stage after initiating a wall of screaming distortion. The duo then ceremoniously stood on their drum stools to exchange a hand shake and ear-to-ear grin before trodding off with a brief wave to the audience.

I have nothing but glorious praise for both shows but I have to say I'd pick the intimate confines of Hells Kitchen over the overcrowded Crocodile any day of the week. Stuffy vs. rowdy was the only real difference between these two phenomenal Melvins shows. I took a ton of photos at both (Buzz/Coady's side in Seattle, Jared/Dale's side in Tacoma) but these are my favs. Enjoy!