There's nothing like seeing a band you love live. And after what's probably been the worst two months of my life, tonight was like being reborn. Isaac Brock has gotta be the second coming. I wish they would've played more older stuff (would've loved to hear Teeth Like God's Shoeshine live -- I probably would've died on the spot -- also, they started to kick in with the drums from Truckers Atlas before hitting up another song. Horrible, horrible tease. That, or The Stars Are Projectors would've been very welcome), but what they chose was to be expected, so I was happy.
Bury Me With It
Great opening, one of my favorite MM songs. Don't know if it tops the recorded version, because there's so many subtleties that kinda get mucked up live, but still a great way to start.
Ocean Breathes Salty
The live version of this, anywhere, destroys the recorded version. It's a song that needs the energy and urgency of a live performance, and the CD doesn't have that. See the SNL performance for an example. But this one killed.
The View
One of MM's best songs, but it was a bit lackluster and off-key here. The bridge was still as beautiful as always. Apt for me. "If life's not beautiful without the pain then I'd rather never ever even see beauty again."
Never Ending Math Equation
So happy they played this one. It's an MM staple, and was listening to it in the car on the way there hoping they'd hit it. They knocked it out of the park, and the place practically exploded when they hit the ending.
The Good Times Are Killing Me
Nice leisurely chill song to relax everyone. Funny seeing all the pot smoke drift up as they're playing, and the crowd cheer on the LSD line.
Here It Comes
A wildcard, a happy surprise. Would've liked to see more potpourri songs like this. You can tell who the true fans are by looking around and seeing who's singing to songs like this.
Float On
Fan favorite, of course the place went crazy when this drums kicked in. Not much to say.
Satin In A Coffin
Some songs really benefit from a live performance. This is one of them. It's lackluster on the CD, but the anger really came out tonight. Good to scream really loudly when you've been fucked over by someone you didn't think would let you down.
Well you disappeared so often
like you dissolved into coffee.
Are you here right now
or are there probably fossils under your meat?
Are you dead or are you sleepin'?
Are you dead or are you sleepin'?
Are you dead or are you sleepin'?
GOD I SURE HOPE YOU ARE DEAD!!!
Therapeutic and chilling, too.
Bukowski
Another song that benefits from the energy of a live performance. Banjo really kills here. It's one of those songs that first stands out on the album then fades under the weight of mammoths like Bury Me With It and The View, but tonight resurrected my appreciation of it.
The World At Large
It was amusing seeing Isaac sit down at the keyboard and smoke a cigarette while playing this. Not a favorite of mine, but a general crowd pleaser. Nice and soothing.
Tiny Cities Made Of Ashes
It took me forever to catch on to what this song was when they first started playing it. It sounds so different live. The hook was totally unrecognizable, and it took like a minute for them to get to the lyrics. The place went pretty crazy, though, under the spell of the power of the chorus.
Black Cadillacs
Another great angry song, made better live. Some Modest Mouse songs, if they hit you just right, can evoke such intense feelings, kinda like the stuff of Radiohead, too.
Ocean Breathes Salty and Float On do this, too. They give hope in the midst of sadness. Satin In A Coffin and this song help purge anger.
I didn't die and I ain't complainin'.
I ain't blamin' you.
I didn't know that the words you said to me
meant more to me than they ever could you?
I didn't lie and I ain't sayin'
I told the whole truth.
I didn't know that this game we were playin'
even had a set of rules.
Cowboy Dan
If they couldn't find it in themselves to play Trailer Trash or Teeth Like God's Shoeshine, at least they played this gem. I didn't take to it when I first heard it, but it's gotten better and better over the years. A great audience helps, and there's nothing like hearing an auditorium full of people shout:
Standing in the tall grass
Thinking nothing
You know we need oxygen to breathe
Oxygen to breathe
Every time you think you're walking you're just moving the ground
Every time you think you're talking you're just moving your mouth
Every time you think you're looking you're just looking down
...segues into:
This Devil's Workday
I was very impressed with how seamlessly they moved between songs here without skipping a beat. That said, another song I'm not wild about, but I enjoyed it here.
They said thank you and goodnight, people cheered the requisite 5-10 minutes before they came back out and gave their...
Encore:
Dramamine / Life Like Weeds
Crowd went nuts when Isaac came back on stage, and even crazier when they hit the hook to this gem. Nothing really to say. A really great song to zone out and get high to, which was easy enough for everyone there anyway. I don't know how they did it, but at the end they broke into a couple lines of Life Like Weeds' chorus. Wished they would've played the whole thing. This is another song that if the mood catches you right, if you're really sad, you can find yourself misty.
All this talking all the time of the year
Fills up until there's nothing left to breathe
And you think you feel most everything
And you know that our hearts are just made out of strings
To be pulled
Strings to be pulled
So you think you've figured out everything
But we know that our hearts are just made out of strings
To be pulled
Strings to be pulled
All this talking all the time, and the air
Fills up until there's nothing left to breathe
Up until there's nothing left to speak
Up into the better parts of space
Broke
Not a huge fan of this one, though most MM fans seem to like it. Fits, I guess, for the broken glassed, broken hearted, sad sappy suckers that make up their contingency. I can relate, after reviewing the lyrics.
Breakthrough
The smile on my face as this song exploded through the speakers was the real breakthrough. The night was over too fast, but it was the perfect hopeful ending note.
Let it breakthrough, oh let breakthrough [x4]
Open the curtain and let in some sky
It's almost half past two AM, you can tell by the light
Open your window, and let in the atmosphere!
Fuck films, I'm gonna become a groupie and see these guys over and over and over again.
