This mostly mellow gig was musically very different from the founding member of 1980s garage band Dinosaur Jr’s previous material, yet still dipped into his trademark over-the-top distortion and loudest of the loud solos.

J Mascis is no doubt a seasoned professional at playing live shows, but this fact was not made obvious that night.

Surrounded in a cocoon of amps, guitars and coconut water, he only opened his eyes to turn the pages of his lyric book, never once addressing the audience.

But the set-list more than made up for lack of love shown for the crowd.

Among a well-balanced cross-section of his recent solo material, mostly from his latest Tied To A Star album, he also played the Dinosaur Jr classics Get Me and Little Fury Things, ending with their classic cover of The Cure’s Just Like Heaven.

Ignoring his slight ungraciousness, it was fantastic to see the indie-rock guitar hero perform his oldies, as well as his new songs in such a small venue. It had the air of a once-in-a-lifetime night.