September 30 2006: The Mountain Goats, Christine Fellows, Jeffery Lewis Band – Bowery Ballroom, New York NY
It probably says something about a person’s tendency to leave town at the slightest provocation when this (not so) fictional person comes upon the day that he/she sees his/her favorite rock and roll band for the thirtieth time and takes note that this thirtieth show happens to be the very first time this person has seen this band play the same room twice. Which is exactly the situation I found myself in tonight. Interpret as you see fit.
But it was a very nice show. Not as nice as last night, but then not many shows are as nice as last night’s. This was close though. “Wild Sage” was opened with, and performed probably just as well as I feel it was performed in Ithaca, which I consider the high water mark for the tune. And after finishing it up, out of nowhere John announces, “This is called ‘Design Your Own Container Garden.’” Out of nowhere! Second song into the set! And life was good. Never thought I’d hear that one live, ever.
And those two were followed by some pretty nice renditions of “Baboon” and “Broom People,” and then later on another “Dilaudid” with just John and Friedlander again (though not as exciting/mind-blowing if only because it didn’t just come right out of thin air like it did last night – but it was still great to see. I mean, it’s not every day that you see a guy shredding the hell out of a cello while another guy’s just going ballistic into the microphone).
Franklin was there again, and they did “Half Dead” with him imitating the guitar part on the keyboard, which was nice. And “In the Hidden Places,” “Up the Wolves” and “Lion’s Teeth” were all played with both Franklin and Friedlander, and all three pretty much kicked the collective ass of every previous time I’ve ever seen them played (Except “Lion’s Teeth,” which I preferred better at a Chicago show last year). I mean, imagine Friedlander just going nuts and Franklin pounding out this crazy psychedelic organ sound. Not many times you’ll catch me using this phrase, but this is one such time: Fucking A. Fucking A those three songs were a great way to end a set. And then “The Best Ever Death Metal Band from Denton” kicked off the first encore. Rock and/or Roll.
The opener, a guy named Jeff Lewis and his brother and another guy, were pretty ok, by which I mean whenever the Jeff guy sang a song things were pretty mediocre but then when his brother would sing a song things were pretty fucking awesome. But the brother only sang a couple tunes.
And Christine Fellows played with a drummer and a cello player, which really upped her live show. And on a side note, I saw Christine walk by as I was sitting in a Soho doorway before the show at around 8pm, 200ml size receptacle of Clan MacGregor in paper bag in hand, but I wasn’t entirely sure it was her until she was already past, and I wish I had just gone out on a limb and said hi and told her that I really enjoy her tunes and then just left it at that, because I don’t suppose it’s every day that a small-time songwriter from Winnipeg goes walking through the streets of New York only to have an apparently homeless young man raise his brown bag to her and call her by name. She could have told her kids about that one. Oh well.
But it was a very nice show. Not as nice as last night, but then not many shows are as nice as last night’s. This was close though. “Wild Sage” was opened with, and performed probably just as well as I feel it was performed in Ithaca, which I consider the high water mark for the tune. And after finishing it up, out of nowhere John announces, “This is called ‘Design Your Own Container Garden.’” Out of nowhere! Second song into the set! And life was good. Never thought I’d hear that one live, ever.
And those two were followed by some pretty nice renditions of “Baboon” and “Broom People,” and then later on another “Dilaudid” with just John and Friedlander again (though not as exciting/mind-blowing if only because it didn’t just come right out of thin air like it did last night – but it was still great to see. I mean, it’s not every day that you see a guy shredding the hell out of a cello while another guy’s just going ballistic into the microphone).
Franklin was there again, and they did “Half Dead” with him imitating the guitar part on the keyboard, which was nice. And “In the Hidden Places,” “Up the Wolves” and “Lion’s Teeth” were all played with both Franklin and Friedlander, and all three pretty much kicked the collective ass of every previous time I’ve ever seen them played (Except “Lion’s Teeth,” which I preferred better at a Chicago show last year). I mean, imagine Friedlander just going nuts and Franklin pounding out this crazy psychedelic organ sound. Not many times you’ll catch me using this phrase, but this is one such time: Fucking A. Fucking A those three songs were a great way to end a set. And then “The Best Ever Death Metal Band from Denton” kicked off the first encore. Rock and/or Roll.
The opener, a guy named Jeff Lewis and his brother and another guy, were pretty ok, by which I mean whenever the Jeff guy sang a song things were pretty mediocre but then when his brother would sing a song things were pretty fucking awesome. But the brother only sang a couple tunes.
And Christine Fellows played with a drummer and a cello player, which really upped her live show. And on a side note, I saw Christine walk by as I was sitting in a Soho doorway before the show at around 8pm, 200ml size receptacle of Clan MacGregor in paper bag in hand, but I wasn’t entirely sure it was her until she was already past, and I wish I had just gone out on a limb and said hi and told her that I really enjoy her tunes and then just left it at that, because I don’t suppose it’s every day that a small-time songwriter from Winnipeg goes walking through the streets of New York only to have an apparently homeless young man raise his brown bag to her and call her by name. She could have told her kids about that one. Oh well.
posted by Peter Sohriakoff | 11:58 PM
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