There's an old saying that "some days are better than others". It's true, some days are indeed better than
others, and that certainly rang true on the Saturday evening of June 12th. After a long tiring week, my Saturday
afternoon began with meeting my friend in the Back Bay section of Boston for a late lunch and some people watching. About
6:30, we paid the check at Solas Irish Pub and headed over to Newbury Street. As we walked into Newbury Comics, we noticed
the crowd of fans collecting at the rear of the store in front of the mini stage set. At exactly 7:00pm, the guy manning the
soundboard announced her arrival in front of her microphone. I'm talking about the one and only Melissa Auf der Maur.
In case your not familiar with her work, she played bass alongside Courtney Love
in "Hole", and took over the bass duties in "Smashing Pumpkins" in support of their Machina album and their farewell tour.
She now heads up her own outfit, Auf der Maur, releasing her self titled debut on June 1st. She brought her band on a mini
in store tour in the New England area and was nice enough to treat her fans to some accoustic versions of her more heavily
sounding songs off her album.
Out of the five songs the band played, four were off of the new album with one being a cover of a "Failure"
song. The songs were performed incredibly clear as if you were listening to the CD. She and the band performed "Followed The
Waves". "Head Unbound", "Taste You" and "Beast Of Honor".
Melissa Talked to the crowd in the intimate setting between songs. She mentioned that
she spent summers on Cape Cod due to the fact that her mom was from Boston, and that every Christmas eve she would stop off
at Newbury Comics because that was where she could find all of the British imports. She also commented that New England is
lucky to have Newbury Comics because there is nothing else like it in the country. She was very comfortable in the setting
and it was obvious that she wanted to be there rather than being forced to show up because of the record company. It was very
refreshing.
At the end of her performance, she met with everyone who was there to see her,
signing autographs and taking photos. She was a real joy to talk to and truly a class act. I look forward to seeing her full
scale show over the summer when she tours in support of The Cure. It certainly was a day better than others.
