My thoughts on the show (and on shows in general):
There were 2 opening bands. I know I should be excited at getting more music for my money, but I am not. I'd prefer a 6 or 7 song set by an opener, a 20 minute break, and the featured performance. Especially when the concert is on a work night. I know it's a lame opinion, but really - how many opening bands have you been blown away with in your day? Better: how many opening opening bands have you fell in love with? My point is: the opener gets the recognition it needs just by showing up. Just play 6 or 7 songs, mention the name of your band 2 or 3 times, say, "We've got some CDs in the back if you want to check it out - (headlining band) is coming up next!", and walk off to thunderous applause.
I have no opinion on Cass McCombs, the opening opener.
The other opener was Mason Jennings. I knew of Mason - and even 2 of his songs - due to my stint in the Twin Cities. I am not a fan. If you are, or if you want to be like Mason Jennings, I suggest you write some lyrics, put a question mark after every line, and sing according to your punctuation. The guy's got some serious-ass, latter day Bob Dylan-esque issues with the way he sings his stuff. When he wants to emphasize a word, or when he's ending a line, his voice drops several octaves (I'm guessing - I have no octave-measuring device or even any knowledge of what an octave is). It's like he wants to clear his throat but can't be bothered to stop singing before doing so. Can you tell I hate him? I do.
Then, after a PROLONGED break, Modest Mouse arrived on stage. The break apparently needed to be longer - the bass guitar was absent for the first song and there was unwelcome feedback at various points of the show. Assuming the break was so long because of all of the instruments MM has in the band, and the techincal difficulties this poses, I have one question:
WHAT THE FUCK IS THE SOUND CHECK FOR??!
I was under the impression that the roadies set all that shit up in advance, tune everything, check the sound levels from each instrument, etc. well before the opening band leaves the stage and says "We've got some CDs in the back if you want to check it out - (headlining band) is coming up next!" Maybe I'm misinformed - maybe the fact that someone plops down a drumset in front of the featured band's set distorts all of the progress that had been made.
Modest Mouse was very good, despite all the details. In addtion to the traditional rock instruments, they incorporated cowbell, other bells, electric cello and violin, banjo, and an organ. They played the majority of their new album, surprising for a band with such a large backlog to choose from. I was just about ready to go home disappointed when they played "Paper Thin Walls" and "Tiny Cities Made of Ashes" as the encore. (The 2 song encore, by the way, is the shortest encore I've ever attended.)
Every band should have a frontman like MM's Issac Brock. I'd watch that guy read the phone book. Entertaining, emotional without being emo, the modern day David Byrne.
My favorite part of the show was definitely when I was trying to impress my crush, former lesbian and current bartender, by drinking copious amounts of alcohol, only to embarrass myself as "The View" played and my old girlfriend Summer looked on. Thank God my friend Ryan was there to take care of me in the most homoerotic of ways.
Note the verbose title of this post - I spent the better part of my post-Modest Mouse week trying to find out what other people thought about the show, and I didn't have as much success as I anticipated. You'd think it would have been easier to find people's reviews of the Modest Mouse show - I mean, were it a Ben Folds show, there would have been 30 posts on the .org messageboard post haste. Anyway, the best of the handful of posts I found were:
Photo and review.
Thorough - maybe too thorough - review. This guy also provided a setlist, which he admits is not 100% accurate:
1. Black Cadillacs
2. Interstate 8
3. Doin' the Cockroach
4. Trailer Trash
5. Bukowski
6. Satin in a Coffin
7. Float On
8. The World At Large
9. Blame it on the Tetons
10. The View
11. Ocean Breathes Salty
12. Neverending Math Equation
13. The Good Times are Killing Me
----------encore----------
14. Paper Thin Walls
15. Tiny Cities Made of Ashes
1 comment:
The thing is, opening bands are necessary. From the position of being in a band...I always liked having an opener because it took a little of the pressure off because whether it seems like it or not...it does warm the crowd up. Opening opening bands though? That's iffy. Generally that happened when someone owed someone a favor and stuck them on the bill. Especially when it's a national act...but not too huge...like Modest Mouse...there are commonly opening openers.
Soundchecks are another beast. Seriously. A beast. the sound at a show either goes flawlessly or it's full of problems...and no amount of soundchecking seems to guarantee good sound. I'm reminded of a time when some friends of ours opened up for Eddie Money...that's right Eddie Money! Anyway, he took roughly a four-hour soundcheck. When questioned by one of our friends why he took such a long soundcheck his answer was, "Eddie Money has to sound like Eddie Money!" Brilliant.
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