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Archive for the ‘Modest Mouse’ Category

Modest Mouse (Fillmore Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, August 19, 2026)

Posted in Califone, Modest Mouse, Philadelphia, PA, The Met Philadelphia on August 20, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 19, 2026] Modest Mouse 

I saw Modest Mouse open for The Flaming Lips last year.  I was right up front and really enjoyed the intensity of the show.  I asked my wife if she’d like to see them since she never had (this would be my 9th time).  The last 3 times I’d seen them were album tours (Lonesome Crowded West and Good News For People Who Love Bad News) and the opening set with the Lips.  So this would be the first time seeing them in a while when they were just doing new stuff.

And it was a LOT of new stuff.  This makes sense as this was a tour for their new album.  They played 8 songs from the album.

But they played a nice mix of newer and older songs.  In between nearly every song there was an older one.  Some were popular (Fly Trapped in a Jar) and some were deep cuts (Broke, from a 1996 EP).  What was fun about these older songs is that the band dropped from a large 7 piece band to a trio, like on those early albums.

I’m always fascinated by the Modest Mouse crowd because the people around me seemed to know the words to all of the older songs.   And I feel like Modest Mouse is pretty abrasive, so I am always surprised at the amount of fans that they have.  But they do have some really catchy songs (radio friendly ones) like Ocean Breathes Salty–this was only the second time I’ve seen them play it!  And it was the first song of the night that my wife recognized.

There was a dude next to me who seemed to know a lit of the new album as well.  Although I think we all recognized Picking Dragons Pockets since its getting a bunch of airplay.

The crowd went nuts when they played Bury Me With It (as they should) and I was super excited when they played 3rd Planet (the opening track from The Moon and Antarctica–a song I cannot believe I’ve never seen them play live before).

One of the songs my wife wanted to hear was Float On (of course).  I warned her that they may not play it (they did play it the last two times I saw them).  Indeed, the previous show started with 4 “hits.”  But Modest Mouse mixes up their setlists quite a bit, and there were few hits to be had tonight. (more…)

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Califone (Fillmore Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, August 19, 2026) [MODEST MOUSE]

Posted in Califone, Modest Mouse, Philadelphia, PA, The Met Philadelphia on August 19, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 19, 2026] Califone

Modest Mouse has very diverse bands opening for them.  Sometimes they’re so odd that I don’t care if I see them.  Other times, its a band I’ve heard of.  Like tonight. I’d heard of Califone–they’ve been around for years.  But I had no idea what they sounded like (or really anything about them).  

Califone is basically the project of Tim Rutili who was a founder of the band Red Red Meat (I also don’t know anything about them either).

For this show, he had a guitarist and bassist and two drummers (one was more percussion).  It’s possible they shared a member of two with Modest Mouse, but I can’t be sure.  Turns out Tim Rutili was part of Isaac Brock’s Ugly Casanova project.

The first two songs were slow and kind of country like.  Tim was seated and on an acoustic guitar.  The first song was a Red Red Meat cover and was quite short.  Before introducing the second song, someone on the crowd shouted Freebird and Tim was so disgusted he said, Did you just shout Freebird, god, anyone who shouts that just shows they are a dick.  They show that they are a cunt–this is Philadelphia I can say that).  Wow, I was so happy to hear it said out loud (Freebird is not funny anymore) and I’m so curious what happened to that guy from his friends.  I also thought it was a massively bold move for an opening band.  But Tim has been doing this since the 90s so he’s heard it all. (more…)

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Modest Mouse / Silver Triplets of the Rio Hondo (Starland Ballroom, Sayreville, NJ, June 5, 2026 / Archer Music Hall, Allentown, PA, June 6, 2026) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Allentown PA, Archer Music Hall, Modest Mouse, Sayreville, NJ, Silver Triplets of the Rio Hondo, Starland Ballroom on June 6, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: June 5 & 6, 2026] Modest Mouse / Silver Triplets of the Rio Hondo

I continue to not go to Archer Music Hall.  I really ant to go to at least one show there.  Although recently a very loud man (with very bad breath) told me the sound there was terrible.

I’ve seen Modest Mouse a lot (eight times) and every time I think I don’t need to see them again, they do something that makes me jump back in.  Mostly I wanted to go to this show because it was at Archer. Especially since they announced a show in Philly that I got tickets for my wife and I to go to.

So, since I’d be out the night before this and I assumed I’d be going out on Sunday to see Geordie Greep, I sold these tickets.  I’m curious how much this setlist will reflect what they play in Philly.

I hadn’t even considered the Starland Ballroom show because I had tickets to two shows already that night.  And, honestly, I don’t love Starland.  For certain shows it’s a great venue.  But the last time I saw Modest Mouse there, the crowd was…icky.  So, it was never in contention anyhow.

Modest Mouse often chooses odd bands to open for them.  Although, that is how I first discovered Tropical Fuck Storm.  But the Silver Triplets of the Rio Hondo are from Portland, Oregon and make sci-fi roadhouse music & noise collage for dissociatives.   That’s not what I thought they’d sound like at all (I imagined three women singing a capella or something).  Instead, they’re three guys (in white suits I gather) who play slow Western music with trippy sound effects added in.  I’m pretty sure I’m happy I didn’t see them. (more…)

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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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