Dinosaur Jr at St James Theatre, Auckland

Your ears will hurt after hearing Dinosaur Jr. It's worth it though, because at the St James on Monday they proved themselves one of America's most influential guitar bands of recent times.

But sadly, like other great bands such as Husker Du and Sonic Youth, they have often been overshadowed by the feats of Nirvana, REM, and the Pixies.

Admittedly, you had every right to be sceptical about how good the original line-up of the band, who are on tour and playing together for the first time in more than 15 years, were going to be. You see, during their heyday of the mid-to-late 80s, frontman J Mascis and bass player Lou Barlow didn't like each other at all.

But what the Auckland crowd witnessed was three guys who were back together, loving what they do, and playing better than ever.

When Mascis leans forward and launches into another squally lead break it's easy to see why this guy, who looks like a bloated hippy, is a guitar hero.

He's supported by drummer Murph who beat his kit relentlessly, and Lou Barlow who strummed away on his bass like it was a guitar.

Most of the set was taken from their first three albums (including the excellent You're Living All over Me) with song highlights being In a Jar, Little Fury Things, Freak Scene, and the monstrously muddy tracks from debut album Dinosaur.

After two encores, the lights slowly started coming on, the gear was turned off, and many of the crowd had already left the auditorium. But Dinosaur Jr wanted to play more. Who knows if they were inspired by the girl who jumped on stage and flashed, but they returned for a final sound massacre.

If bands are thinking about reforming then they should make sure they do it like Dinosaur Jr. The standard has been set.