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Archive for the ‘Modest Mouse’ Category

The Flaming Lips (TD Pavilion at The Mann Center, Philadelphia, PA, August 5, 2025)

Posted in Black Sabbath, Friko, Mann Center for the Performing Arts, Modest Mouse, Philadelphia, PA, Rainbows, The Chemical Brothers, The Flaming Lips on August 7, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 5, 2025] The Flaming Lips

I have now seen The Flaming Lips eight times.  Even when they play many of the same songs a lot, it’s always a fun and joy-filled experience.

And for the first time, I was right on the barrier to see them right up close.  So close that when they deflated the pink robots, I got to touch one!

The last time we saw them it was for the Yoshimi tour which was an evening with the Lips.  So this 75 minute set was considerably shorter, but it was a great compact set with three songs I’d never heard them play before!

They opened with an instrumental from The Soft Bulletin.  This was my first exposure to the new lineup of the band.  Steven Drozd is sitting out this tour and was replaced by AJ Slaughter who I was right in front of (I admit I was bummed that I was right in front of Steven’s spot but it wasn’t him!  Although his broken double neck guitar was there!

Slaughter did a great job playing all of Drozd’s parts and even added some pedal steel guitar which was a fantastic addition to the songs.

This was also the first time I’ve seen them with only one drummer in ages.

But the fewer musicians seemed to give room to more on stage antics.  They played parts one and two of Yoshimi and there were four giant inflatable robots filling the stage.  During part two, the confetti cannons were on full blast and I was right in the middle of it all.  Wayne also shot off his hand held confetti cannons and the delight on everyone’s faces was wonderful to be a part of. (more…)

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Modest Mouse (TD Pavilion at The Mann Center, Philadelphia, PA, August 5, 2025) [THE FLAMING LIPS]

Posted in Mann Center for the Performing Arts, Modest Mouse, Philadelphia, PA, The Flaming Lips on August 6, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[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. (more…)

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Friko (TD Pavilion at The Mann Center, Philadelphia, PA, August 5, 2025) [THE FLAMING LIPS]

Posted in Friko, Mann Center for the Performing Arts, Modest Mouse, Philadelphia, PA, The Flaming Lips on August 5, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 5, 2025] Friko

 

I was really excited for this show–two of my favorite bands playing together.

I arrived roughly at 7, expecting to maybe miss the first song of the opener.  But no.  And not only that, I walked down to the pit (I was so excited to get pit tickets) and walked right up to the barrier.  So I was front and left for the entire night.

The night started with Friko, a young band from Chicago.  I’d listened to them ahead of time and enjoyed them, but I was so impressed by their live show.

I was delighted to be in front of Korgan Robb on guitar who was wringing all kinds of interesting sounds out of his guitar.  And since I was right in front of him, I got to watch him mess with his pedals and then find out what he was about to create.

Although it turns out that he is not actually part of the band.  Friko is presently a duo Niko Kapetan sings and plays guitar and and Bailey Minzenberger is the drummer.  For this tour in addition to Korgan, they had David Fuller on bass. (more…)

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Modest Mouse (Fillmore Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, November 20, 2024)

Posted in Modest Mouse, Philadelphia, PA, The Black Heart Procession, The Met Philadelphia on November 21, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: November 20, 2024] Modest Mouse 

At the end of 2022, I saw Modest Mouse play their album The Lonesome Crowded West.  It was the last show I saw in 2022 and it was great.

I often think that I don’t need to see Modest Mouse again, and yet when they announced a tour in which they played all of Good News for People Who Love Bad News, I knew I’d be going to that show.  I have now seen Modest Mouse 7 times.  I have only seen 4 artists more (and a couple the same amount).  [I did not go to any of their shows where they played with Pixies, even though that’s a killer lineup].

In 2022, I arrived late (I didn’t want to see the opening band) and wound up really far back.  But this time I got there early enough to get close to the stage without being in the front, exactly.   I really like Modest Mouse, but I really don’t like about half of the Modest Mouse fanboy club.  

My last post included a quote from Holly Hazelwood, which I am excerpting even more here

Do we really need another late-30s dude in a baseball hat trying desperately to make himself the center of attention in a crowd of 1500 people? Of course we don’t. And sadly, Modest Mouse are (fittingly) like Charles Bukowski for rock dudes — well-spoken but biting — so these kinds of fans, who show up and try to out-asshole everyone in the room, are an unnecessary evil that comes with seeing Modest Mouse shows.

Tonight’s crowd didn’t have too many of these bros, although, amusingly the jackasses who pushed their way in front of us were all wearing baseball hats.  There is a lot of screaming along with Modest Mouse, and fair enough, that’s how the songs go.  But overall, I wasn’t terribly annoyed by the crowd this time.  And the two people in front of me were clearly huge fans of the album and were cool about it! (more…)

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The Black Heart Procession (Fillmore Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, November 20, 2024) [MODEST MOUSE]

Posted in Modest Mouse, Philadelphia, PA, The Black Heart Procession, The Met Philadelphia on November 20, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: November 20, 2024] The Black Heart Procession

The opening act for this show wasn’t announced until a few days before the show.  But The Black Heart Procession had been opening all the other shows so I assumed it would be them.

I had never heard of them and assumed that they were some new young band.  And I was completely wrong.  The band was formed in 1997 (!) by Pall Jenkins who has played with a bunch of different bands and even did work with Isaac Brock in Ugly Casanova.  He and Tobias Nathaniel (these two are the main force of the band) create soundtrack music in the way Tindersticks make soundtrack music.  The big difference is that Black Heart Procession is very spare.  For most songs it is Nathaniel on keys and Jenkins on guitar.  With an unintroduced drummer playing along.

The songs are mostly slow with lots of reverb on the guitar.  

And Jenkins’ voice.  When he came out he was wearing a suit jacket and sunglasses.  He looked older than he probably is (although he’s obviously not a young guy) and he belted out songs so full of remorse that, despite the quietness of the song, no one talked through the weird opening song.  Which, I have to emphasize, FEATURED A MUSICAL SAW! (more…)

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Pixies / Modest Mouse / Cat Power (TD Pavillion @ The Mann Center, Philadelphia, PA, June 12, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Cat Power, Mann Center for the Performing Arts, Modest Mouse, Philadelphia, PA, Pixies on June 12, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: June 12, 2024] Pixies / Modest Mouse / Cat Power

This is the same tour that was going on last summer.  I was vaguely interested in it, but knew I wouldn’t go.   Here’s the same thing I wrote last summer.

I saw Pixies for the first time in 28 years at The Stone Pony Summer Stage and it was glorious.  I’ve since seen them two more times and I don’t feel the need to ever see them again.  Even though each show has been very good, and there is some mixing up of songs, I feel like I’ve seen everything they’re going to show me.

I would see Modest Mouse every time they came around.  The shows are totally different and each one feels like a new version of the band.

I have never really liked Cat Power (blasphemy!).  She just doesn’t do anything for me.

With this line up, the nays overrode the yeas.

 

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Pixies / Modest Mouse / Cat Power (The Stone Pony Summer Stage, Asbury Park, NJ, August 20, 2023) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Asbury Park, NJ, Cat Power, Modest Mouse, Pixies, The Stone Pony, The Stone Pony Summer Stage on August 20, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: August 20, 2023] Pixies / Modest Mouse / Cat Power

I saw Pixies for the first time in 28 years at The Stone Pony Summer Stage and it was glorious.  I’ve since seen them two more times and I don’t feel the need to ever see them again.  Even though each show has been very good, and there is some mixing up of songs, I feel like I’ve seen everything they’re going to show me.

I would see Modest Mouse every time they came around.  The shows are totally different and each one feels like a new version of the band.

I have never really liked Cat Power (blasphemy!).  She just doesn’t do anything for me.

With this line up, the nays overrode the yeas.

Recently I looked to see how much the tickets were, just in case I wanted to go and I found out it was sold out.  So good for all of them.

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Modest Mouse (Fillmore Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, December 15, 2022)

Posted in Mattress, Modest Mouse, Philadelphia, PA, The Met Philadelphia on December 17, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: December 15, 2022] Modest Mouse 

Last year, Modest Mouse was the first concert I saw after the pandemic. This year, Modest Mouse was the last concert I’ll see in 2022 (nothing dramatic about that, I just don’t have any more shows lined up until next year).

As I’ve said before, I wasn’t planning to see them.  In fact, I felt like I had seen them even more recently than last year.  But this was a special tour–the 25th anniversary tour of their album The Lonesome Crowded West, with a really stripped down band.  Last time I saw them, there were six people on stage (there were like nine the previous show).  This time it’s just a four piece: Isaac Brock and co-founder Jeremiah Green joined by (regular) bassist Russell Higbee and guitarist Simon O’Connor who played last time I saw them.

This meant a stripped down, really rocking show.  Which befits the far more stripped down and rocking sound of this earlier album. 

Normally I’m all about seeing the opening band.  But I’ve had a few liberating experiences lately where i have deliberately blown off the opening band and been pleased with the decision.  I hadn’t heard of the band Mattress.  I looked them up before the show and learned that Mattress is the project of Rex Marshall.  And that the act is pretty much Marshall wearing a gold lame suit and acting like an abrasive lounge singer.

I listened to a song online and decided that I did not need to stand through that.  Sidenote:  It reminded me a lot of Wetface the weird, is-it-a-joke band who opened for Built to Spill this summer.  I sat through that twice and consider that my penance.  (incidentally, I often think of Built to Spill and Modest Mouse in the same breath for some reason, so it’s interesting that they would have similar bands on this year’s tour).

So that mean I got to the Fillmore around 8:45.  The evening happened to be one of the rainiest nights in recent memory.  It rained hard.  All day.  I very much considered not going to this show because of the weather.  But I decided to go and drove through the terrible lashing rain.  I kinda thought that the rain might keep others away and, if I was arriving late, maybe I could get free parking at the the Fillmore lot.  Indeed no.  In fact, it was full.  So I went past the lot and immediately got lost in the bowels of the roads beneath 95.  Holy cow.  I drove for about 8 minutes in crazy rain knowing where I was but having not idea where I actually was.  I finally found my way to the casino for parking and hurries across to the venue only to find a lineup! (more…)

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Modest Mouse / The Cribs (The Stone Pony Summer Stage, Asbury Park, NJ, May 28, 2022) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Asbury Park, NJ, Johnny Marr, Modest Mouse, The Cribs, The Stone Pony, The Stone Pony Summer Stage on May 28, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: May 28, 2022] Modest Mouse / The Cribs

I really enjoy seeing Modest Mouse live.  I’ve seen them a number of times and will happily see them again.

However, I didn’t really want to see them at the Stone Pont Summer Stage, which I have a kind of love hate relationship with.

They tour all the time and I was able to see them again later in December, so it’s okay that this show was missed.

The Cribs are an old (I had no idea) British rock band (formed in 2001).  They are made up of twins Gary and Ryan Jarman and their younger brother Ross Jarman.   Johnny Marr (who was also part of Modest Mouse for a while) played with them from 2008 to 2011.

They were a hugely popular British indie rock (emphasis on the rock) band whom I’d never heard of.  Apparently they hit some trouble just before COVID, and here’ a fun little blurb from the NME.

The Jarman brothers were left staring defeat in the face following ‘24-7 Rock Star Shit’ due to a self-described “legal morass”. After unexpectedly parting ways with their management, a morale-sapping period in the wilderness followed; they couldn’t release music or tour (the gig-hardened band still haven’t played live since September 2018). “Towards the end of last year, we honestly could not even begin to imagine coming back and were seriously questioning our future as a band,” The Cribs revealed in a message to their fans back in August. “It felt almost like a distant dream or something.”

Step forward Dave Grohl. While supporting Foo Fighters in Manchester in the summer of 2018, the deflated Cribs received a pep talk from the gregarious frontman, who offered them a route out of their quagmire. “‘Forget about all that business stuff, come out to LA and make a record at our studio’ – Dave made that offer to us,” a relieved Ryan Jarman recalled.

It was precisely the kind of escape that the Jarman brothers so desperately needed: after reuniting at their parents’ house during Christmas 2018 to thrash out some new song ideas, the trio headed to the Foos’ Studio 606 the following April to record what would become ‘Night Network’, The Cribs’ best album in 11 years.

Back to ‘Goodbye’, then. The record’s very un-Cribsian surf-pop opener, complete with ‘Pet Sounds’-influenced harmonies, permits the band to first and foremost reflect on the bullshit (“Goodbye when you chose the sons of privilege,” one withering line goes) before consigning those tumultuous times to the past.

Point made, drummer Ross Jarman  signals the resumption of normal service as his tumbling fill sparks lead single ‘Running Into You’ into life. “If I could only write her favourite song / Still be in her head when I am gone,” bassist Gary Jarman wistfully sings as his twin brother Ryan crafts a sprawling and very Cribsian riff from the barrage of fuzzy guitar he lays down throughout. There’s even an “ah-oh-oh-oh” cry thrown in at the end, almost like a tip of the hat to ‘The New Fellas’ era. Isn’t it good to have The Cribs back?

I’m going to have to give these guys a listen.

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Modest Mouse (The Met Philadelphia, PA, August 5, 2021)

Posted in Modest Mouse, Philadelphia, PA, The Met Philadelphia on August 6, 2021| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 5, 2021] Modest Mouse        [pictures to come]

I wasn’t planning on Modest Mouse being my first show back after 500+ pandemic days.  In fact, I didn’t even think they were my first show back (Japanese Breakfast on Saturday was first, I thought). I bought tickets for this show but forgot to write it on the calendar.  Thankfully, a reminder email got me totally psyched to be back.

This was my fifth time seeing Modest Mouse.  I laughed when I saw that last time I wrote:

I don’t ever plan to see Modest Mouse, they just sort of appear and they worm their way into my calendar.  And frankly … I’ll definitely go again if I can.

Obviously that was true as well this time.

I wish that there was a vaccination and mask mandate in place at The Met, because regardless of how vaccinated everybody may have been, there were a lot of unmasked faces in the pit with my masked one.

After a year and a half it was almost comforting to se that all of the irritating people came out for the show as well.  But I was in a good space, so I acknowledged their irritations bit didn’t get irritated.  I was fairly close to the stage, but there were some last minute pushers who forced me a little back.  I also tried my best to leave some distance between me and the others (but that was nigh impossible).  There were the requisite tall boys right in front of the stage and (I had forgotten about this behavior) a short girl (woman? it was hard to tell) who barreled her way right in front of me, dragging her boyfriend (father?) with her.  She also later tried to start a mosh pit but no one was biting.  And of course, by the end of the night there was the very sloppy drunk woman who was falling all over herself (and her boyfriend) who had to leave early.

After a 30 minute wait between bands, Modest Mouse came out.   And the crowd went nuts.

I noted last time that

The main draw for me at a Modest Mouse show is the thought that I’ll hear songs I haven’t heard live before.  I didn’t know if that was possible on my now fourth show but amazingly, they played 8 songs that I hadn’t heard live before.  They have over 100 songs officially released, so I don’t imagine hearing all of them, but I have heard 55 songs at four shows, which again, is amazing

That was not an issue for me this time.  I just wanted to hear live music.  They did play seven songs I hadn’t hear live before.  But six of them were from the new album The Golden Casket.  One was from the Interstate 8 EP.

(more…)

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