I expected Mission of Burma to be good, but I didn’t expect them to be great.

I knew when we got them as a last-minute replacement for Shipping News that we’d strangely lucked out, but had no idea quite how much. I’m pretty much only a singles fan of Mission of Burma (I know, I know) and was really excited to get to catch them at the opening night of Boomslang. After sampling their new album The Sound The Speed The Light, I figured they sounded like they still had what it takes to rock live.

2009 marked 30 years since the founding of Mission of Burma. Now, they’ve spent most of that time on breakup/hiatus, but last night proved they’ve still got it. I can’t say they’re still in their prime, having nothing with which to compare their Friday performance, but they were more raw and exciting than most bands I’ve seen this decade. So if taking 20 years off as a band is what it takes to still kick it live, maybe they made the right choice…

I sent pretty much the whole weekend up in the very front of the stage at Buster’s, so it’s kind of hard to guage, but I’d say that Mission of Burma had the biggest audience of Boomslang Festival. I can, however, say with certainty that they had the rowdiest, most energetic crowd of any band who played Buster’s this weekend. The three guys next to me were shaking the metal divider, jumping up and slapping the stage. It was awesome. But the most awesome thing was that they were actually pretty respectful. Only during “This Is Not a Photograph” did I start to get pushed around a bit. Understandable, though, since that song is sweeeeet!

More photos after the break