After many years of waiting I finally had the chance to witness live one of my all time favourites, Modest Mouse. At last they visited our shores and it was well worth the wait. The band entered the stage to a very warm welcome, but it was Isaac Brock who engineered the loudest cheer. Isaac has a manic stare when on stage as he seems to live and breathe every moment. They launched straight away into "Ocean Breathes Salty" and "Black Cadillacs" from "Good News..." before playing an older number "Paper Thin Walls" which I was very happy to hear. By my count they played 6 new songs from their long awaited forthcoming album and whilst I'm sure in time they will grow on me, they didn't grab me live in concert. I know it's a cliche to say "I like the old ones better", but honestly I do, I wish they had played something off "Lonesome Crowded West", but I do understand a band has to grow and play new material. I would say the best new song was "Invisible In Your Car". The definite highlight was the middle of the show when they played an incendiary "Tiny Cities Made Of Ashes", followed by "The View" and The World at Large". I also loved the 2 early classics "Breakthrough and "Dramamine". The sound was excellent and the band (now numbering six) was very tight although I'm still not sure if Johnny Marr adds an awful lot to the band as I think Isaac easily handles all the guitar licks himself. All in all a very enjoyable night to finally see Modest Mouse live, just wish they had played "Truckers Atlas".Set List
Ocean Breathes Salty
Black Cadillacs
Paper Thin Walls
We've Got Everything
Float On
Fire It Up
Missed the Boat
Bukowski
Tiny Cities Made Of Ashes
The View
The World At Large
People We Know
Dashboard
Breakthrough
Bury Me With It
Dramamine > Life Like Weeds
Invisible In Your Car
Sydney's finest Dappled Cities Fly were an excellent support act. Once again they were great live, ripping through a few tunes from their excellent "Granddance" before closing with "The Birds" and "Peach". I hope the audience will seek out their latest release.
More photos of the night are available here.
posted by Wayne Massingham @ 1:10 AM
3 Comments:
At January 04, 2007 ,
Anonymous said...
it was Dramamine --> Life Like Weeds :)
At January 04, 2007 ,
Anonymous said...
I was a Smiths fan long before I became a Modest Mouse fan (ok, the Smiths beat MM by only a year, but it was a very Smiths-intensive year), so I could definitely recognise Marr's style in the new songs (but is that a good thing?). Sad but true - I spent most of the time staring at Marr, and (blindly) hoped they would play 'This Charming Man'.
Despite my blatant adoration of Johnny Marr (and hence, on principle, the new songs I guess), I was also disappointed by the lack of older songs. My favourite album is 'Moon & Antarctica', so 'Paper Thin Walls', 'Tiny Cities' and 'Dramamine' brought back good memories. I really wish they played 'A Different City' and 'Convenient Parking' too, which makes me sound a bit like an elitist indie wanker, but hey! at least I'm an honest wanker. (A guy with amazing lung capacity behind me screamed, 'Shit Luck!', which would have been awesome live.) If only they toured a couple of years earlier as well!
Next time, I'm definitely getting in early for standing room tickets. I was tucked away upstairs, where most people sat stock still unless it was a single off 'Good News', when they'd all nod/shake their heads very very gently.
At January 04, 2007 ,
Wayne Massingham said...
Don't get me wrong I was a big Smiths fan too and Johnny Marr is a legend, its just I think Isaac dominates the stage, so I feel Johnny is only there in support. I imagine upstairs would have been rather dull, everyone was jumping around where I was. I really didn't expect to hear a lot of older songs, but one can always dream.
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