I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: August 5, 2025] Modest Mouse

This was my eighth time seeing Modest Mouse in ten years.  The last two times were album tours which are always fun.

I always enjoy seeing them, and this shortened set was punchy and fantastic.  And, since I had managed to get on the barrier, I was right there to watch it all.  I was right in front of Simon O’Connor on guitar and behind him was Keith Karman on keys.

I hadn’t realized that Isaac is the only original member of the band left.  But they are a cohesive unit and it seemed pretty clear that Isaac was having fun up there.

I couldn’t really see Damon Cox on drums because Simon was blocking him, but I had a great view of percussionist Ben Masarella who is so much fun to watch–he adds so many interesting sounds to the songs and he holds them up front to get a full sound, so you get to see him pick up some randomly shaped object and see what it’s going to sound like.

Bassist Russel Higbee was pretty far away but it was fun to watch him from time to time.

They mix up their setlists every night and this setlist was great!

They opened up with Float On, a surprisingly poppy opener which the crowd reacted appropriately to.  In fact the first four songs were some of their biggest “hits” with Paper Thin Walls, Lampshades on Fire and Fire It Up.

I have noticed at past shows that Modest Mouse fans are kind of bro-y but this show, whether because it was also Flaming Lips or possibly because I was in the front, I didn’t see or hear any bros doing bro things.

It’s always fun to hear them play Dark Center of the Universe (it took a lot of work to be the ass that I am) and the crowd always responds well to Cowboy Dan.

I thought I knew their newest album pretty well, but I clearly need to listen more because I didn’t know Wooden Soldiers at all,  It was followed by an unreleased song Dogbed/Sheetrock, which is slow and quite lovely.

Then it was back to familiar turf with Satellite Skin.  I did recognize Fuck Your Acid Trip from the new(ish) album, but the crowd really responded when they jumped back to Dashboard.

I’m surprised to see that I’ve only seen them play Fly Trapped in a Jar twice as I know it so well.  I guess I know the We Were Dead album really well.

It was great seeing Teeth Like Gods Shoeshine when they played the entire Lonesome Crowded West and it was really fun hearing them play it again.  And they ended with The World at Large, a fairly quiet ending song.  I actually thought they might play one more as their set felt a little short.  But it was a great set–really enjoyable and fun to see them up close.

 

		8/5/2025 The Mann, Philadelphia
		Float On ♣ [5]
		Paper Thin Walls Ø [5]
		Lampshades on Fire ℜ [5]
		Fire It Up ψ [3]
		Dark Center Of The Universe Ø [3]
		Cowboy Dan  µ [4]
		Wooden Soldiers © [2]
		Dogbed/Sheetrock ¢
		Satellite Skin § [3]
		Fuck Your Acid Trip © [2]
		Dashboard ψ [4]
		Fly Trapped in a Jar ψ [2]
		Teeth Like God’s Shoeshine µ [2]
		The World at Large ♣ [5]

 

 

Fillmore Philly, 2024	Fillmore Philly, 2022 [Lonesome Crowded West Tour]	The Met Philadelphia, 2021
Good News For People Who Love Bad News [full album]	Teeth Like God’s Shoeshine µ	Dramamine ≅ [4]
The World at Large ♣ [4]	Heart Cooks Brain µ [3]	Back to the Middle ©
Float On ♣ [4]	Convenient Parking µ	Cowboy Dan µ [2]
Ocean Breathes Salty ♣	Lounge (Closing Time) µ	Bury Me with It ♣ [3]
Dig Your Grave ♣	Jesus Christ was an Only Child µ	Wooden Soldiers ©
Bury Me with It ♣ [4]	Doin’ the Cockroach µ [2]	Gravity Rides Everything Ø [3]
Dance Hall ♣	Cowboy Dan (extended outro) µ [3]	Leave a Light On ©
Bukowski ♣ [4]	Trailer Trash (Perpetual Motion Machine tease) µ [2]	Satin In A Coffin ♣ [3]
This Devil’s Workday ♣ [4]	Out of Gas µ [3]	King Rat § [3]
The View ♣ [2]	Long Distance Drunk µ	Shit In Your Cut ℜ [3]
Satin In A Coffin ♣ [4]	Shit Luck µ  [2]	Float On ♣ [3]
Interlude (Milo) ♣	Trucker’s Atlas µ	Paper Thin Walls Ø [3]
Blame It on the Tetons ♣	Polar Opposites µ	We Are Between ©
Black Cadillacs ♣ [3]	Bankrupt on Selling µ [2]	We’re Lucky ©
One Chance  ♣	Styrofoam Boots/It’s All Nice on Ice, Alright µ [3]	I Came as a Rat Ø [3]
The Good Times Are Killing Me ♣ [3]	encore	encore
set two	Whenever You Breathe Out, I Breathe In (Positive Negative) ∞ [2]	Fuck Your Acid Trip ©
Dark Center Of The Universe Ø [2]	Edit the Sad Parts ∞	Fire It Up ψ [2]
Satellite Skin § [2]	Five Stop Mother Superior Rain (The Flaming Lips cover)	The Ground Walks, With Time in a Box ℜ [4]
Guilty Cocker Spaniels §	Breakthrough ≅  [2] (asked crowd prior, ” Breakthrough or Grey Ice Water”, Extended outro)	Broke ∞
The Whale Song §		Bukowski ♣ [3]
History Sticks to Your Feet §
King Rat § [4]
Gravity Rides Everything Ø [4]
encore
Third Side of the Moon [new]
Paper Thin Walls Ø [4]

 

Starland Ballroom, 2017	Sands, Bethlehem, 2018
The Tortoise and the Tourist ℜ [2]	Strangers to Ourselves ℜ
Bury Me with It ♣ [1]	Dramamine ≅ [3]
Dramamine ≅ [2]	Poison the Well [new]
Missed the Boat ψ	Lampshades on Fire ℜ [4]
Dashboard ψ [3]	Interstate 8 ∞
Pups to Dust ℜ [2]	The World at Large ♣ [3]
Grey Ice Water ¥	Satin In A Coffin ♣ [2]
Bukowski ♣ [2]	King Rat § [2]
King Rat § [1]	This Devil’s Workday ♣ [4]
This Devil’s Workday ♣[3]	What People Are Made of Ø
Out of Gas µ [2]	Float On ♣ [2]
I Came as a Rat Ø [1]	Bankrupt on Selling µ [1]
Lampshades on Fire ℜ [3]	I Came as a Rat Ø [2]
Night on the Sun ⇔ [2]	Satellite Skin §
Sugar Boats ℜ	The Ground Walks, With Time in a Box ℜ [3]
encore	encore
Shit In Your Cut ℜ [2]	Bury Me with It ♣ [2]
Breakthrough ≅ [1]	Heart Cooks Brain µ [2]
Wild Packs Of Family Dogs Ø [2]	Parting of the Sensory ψ
The Ground Walks, With Time in a Box ℜ [2]	Gravity Rides Everything Ø [2]
Fly Trapped in a Jar ψ	The View [first half acoustic] ♣
Whenever You Breathe Out, I Breathe In (Positive Negative) ∞ [1]	Styrofoam Boots/It’s All Nice on Ice, Alright µ [2]

 

Starland Ballroom, 2014	Steelstacks Pavillion 2015
Cowboy Dan µ [1]	The Tortoise and the Tourist ℜ [1]
Dark Center Of The Universe Ø	Paper Thin Walls Ø [2]
Invisible ψ	Lampshades on Fire ℜ [2]
Lampshades On Fire [new/ℜ] [1]	Out of Gas µ [1]
Dramamine ≅ [1]	Dashboard ψ [2]
> Life Like Weeds (Tease) Ø	Bukowski ♣ [1]
This Devil’s Workday ♣ [1]	This Devil’s Workday ♣ [2]
Satin In A Coffin ♣ [1]	Here’s to Now (Ugly Casanova cover)
Fire It Up ψ [1]	The Best Room ℜ
Coyotes [new/StO]	Doin’ the Cockroach µ [1]
Dashboard ψ [1]	The World at Large ♣ [2]
Pistol (A. Cunanan, Miami, FL. 1996) [new/ℜ]	Night on the Sun ⇔ [1]
Talking Shit About A Pretty Sunset ≅	Float On ♣ [1]
Wild Packs Of Family Dogs Ø [1]	The Ground Walks, With Time in a Box ℜ [1]
Tiny Cities Made Of Ashes Ø [1]	Black Cadillacs ♣ [2]
Shit In Your Cut [new/ℜ] [1]	Styrofoam Boots/It’s All Nice on Ice, Alright µ [1]
Black Cadillacs ♣ [1]	Tiny Cities Made of Ashes Ø [2]
Spitting Venom ψ	encore
Shit Luck µ [1]	Gravity Rides Everything Ø [1]
Trailer Trash µ [1]	Pups to Dust ℜ [1]
encore	A Different City Ø
Heart Cooks Brain µ [1]	The Good Times Are Killing Me ♣ [2]
The World At Large ♣ [1]
Paper Thin Walls Ø [1]
The Good Times Are Killing Me ♣ [1]

¢ new (2025)
© The Golden Casket (2021)
ℜ Strangers to Ourselves (2015)
§ No One’s First, and You’re Next EP (2009)
ψ We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank (2007)
♣ Good News for People Who Love Bad News (2004)
⇔ Everywhere and His Nasty Parlour Tricks EP (2001)
¥ Building Nothing Out of Something (2000)
Ø The Moon & Antarctica (2000)
µ The Lonesome Crowded West (1997)
∞ Interstate 8 EP (1996)
≅ This Is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About (1996)