Modest Mouse in NYC

If Frank Zappa is a guy thing, Modest Mouse seems to be a girl thing. And by a girl thing, I mean a dystopian-white-girl-destined-for-Connecticut-but-sowing-her-drunken-crazy-granola-”Girl Power!” thing. And yes, I know Connecticut is for f*%@ing, but that’s only 10% of the population. The rest spend their time making planters out of popsicle sticks and recycling their L.L. Bean catalogs.

I have never seen so many women completely lose their $#*@ over a band. I felt surrounded by a pack of screaming banshees doing a modified Elaine dance, fists clenched, arms and legs wildly flailing, bottom-lip appropriately tucked under, shaking like they were being electrocuted as they inadvertently beat up those around them with their flapping limbs. Modest Mouse was good, but they weren’t THAT good. And Isaac Brock is cute, but not THAT cute. Perhaps there was something in the $8 beer.

But I digress. The music is the important thing here. I was completely underwhelmed with both opening acts, Man Man and Love As Laughter. In both cases, the vocals were akin to indie cookie monster and perhaps they wrote their songs to sound discordant, but if your music makes people put their hands over their ears, perhaps it is time to start thinking about a new career.

However, it was worth enduring the amateur hour because Modest Mouse was superb. They had some technical problems with extremely feedback-y mikes, but that aside, the sound was really tight and you can see Johnny Marr’s influence in all their music-new and old. They played their hits and then some-”Float On”, “The Ocean Breathes Salty” and “Dashboard” were great to hear, but “Doin’ The Cockroach”, “Education”, and “Tiny Cities Made of Ash” was some of the best live music I have ever heard. The two drummers really pounded out a driving rhythm that makes you want to dance, or at least march somewhere.

Even with the possessed Lillith-flailing and the squeaky mikes, I’d definitely see them again. I’d also see a show at the United Palace Theater again. Although we had to trek all the way to the other end of Manhattan (from Tribeca to 176th & Fort Washington Ave on the A-train), the theater was beautiful and it is a great small venue (~3,000 seats) to see a band.

Requisite bad camera-phone picture…




Posted by Sugarbabe


The Time Machine



May 1, 2007 at 9:24 PM

So glad to have you back! Your writing style is always colorful and full of life!



Sugarbabe can be found musing about music at her MOG site http://mog.com/sugarbaby.