Mission of Burma – at The Echo – Los Angeles, CA – November 15, 2009

Mission of Burma was one of the great underground inspirations for many great mainstream bands such as REM, Nirvana, The Pixies, Sonic Youth, and many more. With that being said, it was not surprising to see a packed house last Sunday at The Echo in LA.




The Henry Clay People opened the show and set a great mood for the performance to proceed them.

They put on a pretty good show. They played with vibrancy and toward the end of their set really kicked it up and got the crowd going with a catchy number called "Working Part Time". They kind of reminded me of Modest Mouse a little bit, with more keyboard, I really enjoyed their sound. If you get a chance, you can check out their music at: www.myspace.com/thehenryclaypeople.         

After a short intermission and a few beers later, Mission of Burma was up to rock the house. From the beginning  I could tell I was experiencing something great. Mission of Burma has a feel of something old but progressive at the same time. Their songs would range from slow and melodic and then right back into a hard Punk rock, in your face sound. To imagine this music being released in the early 80's, it blows my mind! Some bands were so ahead of their time, it's amazing.

Mission of Burma was known for being a great recording band in their early days, thanks to contributions from Martin Swope, who would do sound manipulation with tape that can easily be done digitally these days, but was visionary in the 80's. While their live performances were known for being notoriously a hit or miss, I have to say that Sundays performance was definitely a hit for the crowd of fans that gathered at The Echo. I am truly a more enlightened lover of music after seeing Mission of Burma!      
 

 

-J. Moncrief-
Big Wheel Music Scene Reporter

 

More photos of the show can be seen HERE

 
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