Perhaps the most lasting impression I'll ever have of the Melvins—actually of any live music performance—was a couple, 3 years back? anyways, not the first time I saw 'em, not the last…

…*but* it *was* the first time I ever saw a performer stay *on stage* for the entirety of the audience's petition for an encore…

Cat's Cradle, they played their last official tune, all headed backstage, but once Buzz got to the back wall, about 15 feet before the stairs leading to the backstage area, he just turned around and leaned on the wall. Back there in the shadows. Motionless. Staring at us. Didn't move at all for a long, long time before he decided they'd come back.

It was kinda like, why bother walking offstage if they're gonna raise enough hell to bring us back out?

A brilliant, stunning conservation of energy, plus, the ideal pov to judge whether *we'd* performed well enough as an audience to rank an encore.

…

The hair catching the stage light from out of the shadows galvanized the image for a lifetime.

I love it when it's Melvins season in Carrboro.