October 23 2005: The Mountain Goats, The Prayers and Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers – Lunt Hall Basement, Haverford College, Haverford PA
Another college show, in the basement of a fucking DORM!. How great is that!? I sure as shit never saw a Mountain Goats show in the basement of MY dorm. Once again, a free show, and BYOB, so you had everyone just hanging around with a bottle of whiskey or a six pack in their hand. I started to get desperate around 8pm and began asking people if I could buy a beer or a shot off them – in all instances they just gave it to me. So another free booze night for myself. And I got to see the soundcheck again, by virtue of just being in the basement at the time that sound was being checked.
The Prayers and Tears played well – and before the show I got to hear Alex explain to me this theory: Abortion = Murder according to the Christians, and Meat = Murder according to the Smiths; therefore Abortion = Meat, and fetuses should be sent to underdeveloped countries to feed the hungry. Made my whole night right there.
The Mountain Goats, upon entering the stage area, by which I refer to the five-inch raised section of the floor towards which the audience faced, were setting up their guitars when New Order’s “Temptation” came on over the PA. Peter later told me that it is perhaps his favorite song, ever. So Peter finishes setting up his bass and just starts right in, playing along with “Temptation” and nailing every little nuance of its bassline, almost as if he had played along with the record many, many times before. And as if that wasn’t amusing enough to watch on its own, once John got his guitar set up he started right in on the guitar part. So for about a minute and a half you’ve got the Mountain Goats up on stage playing along to the New Order record and looking like they’ve never had as good a time on stage in their whole lives. And then the show itself started. The fun just never stops. “Song for Dennis Brown” was breathtaking – easily its best performance all tour. And though “Pet Politics” had been played a few times before, Haverford marked its first full band performance.
And during the Prayers and Tears’ set Perry had broken a string on his Telecaster, which was David’s guitar-of-choice for their songs with the Mountain Goats, so he had to play the SG instead. Which fucking rocked. I thought so, I think most of the audience thought so, and after the show I overheard John telling David that he also thought so. And David didn’t touch the Telecaster for the rest of the tour. Due, I think, in no small part to the SG, the evening’s performance of “Oceanographer’s Choice” was easily the best of the tour. And due to the show actually being INSDIE the dorm, I didn’t even have to find a way into a building where I could sleep! Just waited for folks to clear out and then stretched out on a nice comfy easy chair for the night.
The Prayers and Tears played well – and before the show I got to hear Alex explain to me this theory: Abortion = Murder according to the Christians, and Meat = Murder according to the Smiths; therefore Abortion = Meat, and fetuses should be sent to underdeveloped countries to feed the hungry. Made my whole night right there.
The Mountain Goats, upon entering the stage area, by which I refer to the five-inch raised section of the floor towards which the audience faced, were setting up their guitars when New Order’s “Temptation” came on over the PA. Peter later told me that it is perhaps his favorite song, ever. So Peter finishes setting up his bass and just starts right in, playing along with “Temptation” and nailing every little nuance of its bassline, almost as if he had played along with the record many, many times before. And as if that wasn’t amusing enough to watch on its own, once John got his guitar set up he started right in on the guitar part. So for about a minute and a half you’ve got the Mountain Goats up on stage playing along to the New Order record and looking like they’ve never had as good a time on stage in their whole lives. And then the show itself started. The fun just never stops. “Song for Dennis Brown” was breathtaking – easily its best performance all tour. And though “Pet Politics” had been played a few times before, Haverford marked its first full band performance.
And during the Prayers and Tears’ set Perry had broken a string on his Telecaster, which was David’s guitar-of-choice for their songs with the Mountain Goats, so he had to play the SG instead. Which fucking rocked. I thought so, I think most of the audience thought so, and after the show I overheard John telling David that he also thought so. And David didn’t touch the Telecaster for the rest of the tour. Due, I think, in no small part to the SG, the evening’s performance of “Oceanographer’s Choice” was easily the best of the tour. And due to the show actually being INSDIE the dorm, I didn’t even have to find a way into a building where I could sleep! Just waited for folks to clear out and then stretched out on a nice comfy easy chair for the night.
posted by Peter Sohriakoff | 12:50 PM
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