Mission of Burma @ Bowery Ballroom, NYC - pics (night 1)

photos by Lori Baily

Mission of Burma @ Bowery Ballroom

Mission of Burma took the stage and singer bassist Clint Conley exclaimed “Let’s get this out of the way . . . [opener] Neptune kicked our asses!” They launched into a few old tunes to warm up then busted into their 1981 EP Signals, Calls, and Marches. Highlights included “Academy Fight Song,” “Max Ernst,” and of course the highly covered “That’s when I reach for my revolver.” Roger Miller rocked like a twenty year old punker using some crazy custom pedals, which made his guitar screech and wail along side of Bob Weston’s tape manipulations and Peter Prescott’s precision drumming. The band had the crowd jumping up and down and signing along with all the tunes off Signals, Calls, and Marches. [kevchino]

Mission of Burma played through full albums twice this weekend at Bowery Ballroom. More pictures from night one (June 14, 2008) below….

Mission of Burma @ Bowery Ballroom

Mission of Burma @ Bowery Ballroom

Mission of Burma @ Bowery Ballroom

Mission of Burma @ Bowery Ballroom

Mission of Burma @ Bowery Ballroom

Mission of Burma @ Bowery Ballroom

Mission of Burma @ Bowery Ballroom

Mission of Burma @ Bowery Ballroom

Mission of Burma @ Bowery Ballroom

Mission of Burma @ Bowery Ballroom

Mission of Burma @ Bowery Ballroom

Mission of Burma @ Bowery Ballroom

Mission of Burma @ Bowery Ballroom

Mission of Burma @ Bowery Ballroom

Mission of Burma @ Bowery Ballroom

Mission of Burma @ Bowery Ballroom

Mission of Burma @ Bowery Ballroom

In the decades following their demise, Burma’s reputation grew to nearly legendary proportions. Contemporary music critics point to their work as a pivotal turning point in North American independent music. Many bands have cited Burma as an inspiration, including Nirvana, Superchunk, Jawbox, The Grifters, R.E.M. (who regularly covered “Academy Fight Song” on their Green tour), Sonic Youth, Drive Like Jehu, Throwing Muses, Yo La Tengo, Fugazi, Pixies, Sugar, Guided by Voices, Catherine Wheel, Graham Coxon, Pegboy and Moby – the last four of which have covered Conley’s “That’s When I Reach For My Revolver.” It should be noted here that when Moby covered the song for an MTV video, he changed the lyrics to “That’s when I realize it’s over.” When questioned why, Moby responded that he did not want to promote gun violence. [Wikipedia]

Michael Stipe gave a shout-out to Mission of Burma at R.E.M.’s Boston show on Friday.