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Mudhoney is a band that has always been thoughtful about the artists they bring along on tour as support acts. In the case of L.A. quintet Hooveriii (pronounced “Hoover Three”), who were tagging along on the grunge pioneers’ West Coast run, the decision was partly about logistics: Gabriel Saloman, who played saxophone for the openers, popped up onstage frequently during Mudhoney’s career-spanning set to add synth and Stooges-style sax to the mix.
Hooveriii got the nod, clearly, because Mudhoney are fans of the young group. If anyone at the Aladdin Theater this past Friday looked stage left, they’d have caught drummer Dan Peters standing to the side, watching every second of the opener’s tightly wound yet raucous 45-minute set.
Anyone within earshot of their performance quickly became an instant acolyte, and it didn’t hurt that Hooveriii’s sound dovetailed nicely with the collective record collection of the sold-out audience. Threads of Krautrock, psychedelia, and prog rippled through their music, colliding nicely with their obvious interests in punk and garage rock. It may have lacked some of the dynamics that mark the group’s studio efforts, but feeling the full weight of their wall of sound on the chest set the tone perfectly for the evening.
Mudhoney, meanwhile, rose to the occasion perfectly. The quartet dipped deep into their back catalog, stretching, naturally, all the way back to their first single “Touch Me I’m Sick”—a tune that brought out the fist pumps and smartphones of the mostly middle-aged audience. And it all seemed so effortless for the band. Even as their members are hitting their 60s, they still play with the abandon and springy joy of their younger days.