Mission of Burma

Photo by John Anderson

Mission of Burma

"We picked up where we left off," concluded Mission of Burma guitarist Roger Miller a few weeks ago by phone, shrugging off any second-coming hubris. MOB always came off as working class punks, and on Sunday night, shrugging off an unrelenting mist of rain, the Boston trio punched in for its second shift. Opening with "1001 Pleasant Dreams" from 2006's The Obliterati, Miller, bassist Clint Conley, and drummer Peter Prescott were delayed a bit in syncing up the beat, but amazingly Prescott's yells from behind the kit have only gotten more furious. "1, 2, 3, Partyy!" and "Good Cheer," from latest The Sound the Speed the Light, oiled the gears, extending the life on MOB's patented formula of abrupt tempo changes and melodic hopscotch. By "That's How I Escaped My Certain Fate," off 1982 touchstone Vs., they had reached the dynamic state, filtering out the gunk for an ecstatic jam on "Trem Two." To see twentysomethings singing along with closer "Academy Fight Song," Jesus Lizard bassist David Sims backstage doing the same, brought MOB's strange career arc around full circle.