Awesome Color opened last night at Slim’s for Dinosaur Jr and impressed a moderate crowd although they deserved bigger. As a long time fan of Dinosaur Jr and J. Mascis in general, we weren’t expecting a really great opener but ended up loving Awesome Color. These guys have a great sound combing several strong thematic element of classic rock and garage rock that is often tipped over into an even stronger blues rock sound. Add to this some really incredible work on the guitar similar to that for which Dinosaur Jr’s J. Mascis is so well known and you get a really strong sound and a great concert.

We’ve seen some bad opening bands but these guys were really, well, awesome. Live they really improve on their album, filling some really good songs with compelling raw power and the kind of talent on the guitar that gets the crowd excited. These guys were the perfect opener for Dinosaur Jr. but they deserve a lot more credit than just an opening band. They have a young sound and you can feel them finding their own place but it is a compelling trip the whole way. These guys are great. Check out their sound either at their website, their myspace profile, or at Amazon. Awesome Color and Dinosaur Jr: Great show!

Photo by Liz Clayton