September 22 2007: The Mountain Goats, the Bowerbirds - North Star Bar, Philadelphia PA
Oh man was this a fun night!
Woke up on Anna's floor in DC at around 11am, showered and ate some breakfast, and we we were on the road by noon. In Philly around 3, found the bar soon after, and then headed to old town cause Anna's never been to this particular historic city and she's into that sort of shit. And it was fun going around with her, watching her get all excited about old bricks. Which are pretty exciting, when you think about it. I just don't often find myself thinking about it.
So we do that for the afternoon, but then at 530 we make a beeline back to the North Star cause we've heard tell that during happy hour beer is half off and food is cheap. We find ourselves to have heard correctly. I order a Yards, of which I'd previously been unaware. Anna orders a Woodchuck. The grand total: $4. Then Anna orders ten Buffalo wings and another Woodchuck. Grand total for that: $5. Then I order a Rogue hazelnut brown, just cause I'm feeling Northwesty. And because it's only $2.50. Philadelphia! We raise our glasses to you!
And the North Star was really a classy place. From the outside, as we were walking toward it, it occurred to me that this was going to be pretty akin to a place I used to go called Eden's Gate in Newberg OR. Which was a real shithole with a $2 Chinese buffet every tuesday. But oh how wrong I was. I love being wrong like that.
And then when the doors opened to the show area of the bar I looked around and saw a tiny little room (reported capacity 250) with a tiny little balcony and a stage high enough that no one was going to have any problems seeing the stage. And we found ourselves a nice little spot just in front of the roof-hanging speakers, maybe four feet from the stage, and we were happy.
And when the Mountain Goats came on they opened with an unbelievable rendition of "Wild Sage," inarguably the best I've ever heard them play it. And just as I had hoped, our spot beneath the speaker pretty much kept us from hearing anything but the band - no singers along, no assholes talking, just music. It was beautiful.
And the show was about twice as great as Baltimore was. Maybe three times as great. They did the new song "In the Craters of the Moon" again, as well as another one that I really dug called "September 15 1983." In addition to "Grendel's Mother" and "Tollund Man" and "Jenny" (Sang "one thing in the galaxy" this time too - I really hope this is a trend) and "Up the Wolves." I was dancing for sure.
And if Anna thought they were dressed well in Baltimore, well they were wearing fuckin SUITS tonight. Peter looked fabulous. John's pants were too big and he kind of looked like Dick Van Dyke doing the penguin dance. But who gives a fuck what people look like when they close the set with "Cubs in Five" and "The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton." Wow. I hadn't seen "Cubs in Five" since the very first time I ever saw them play, aka since before I even knew the song. So that was a lot of fun. And For all my bitching about people who sing at shows, there's exactly one time when I feel it's entirely appropriate and perhaps even necessary to do so: the "Hail Satan!"s. And I glanced over and even Anna's mouth was moving. Oh Anna.
And then for the encore: they start out with the repetitive chord that usually signals "Oceanographer's Choice," but then instead of "guy in a skeleton costume" comes, "I'm gonna drink more whiskey!!!!" That was pretty great. I hadn't seen "Commandante" since Olympia two years ago, aka not since I really learned to appreciate the tune. Then "Dance Music," then a particularly moving "Shadow Song," and then "This Year."
And the image of Peter in his pants, shoes, shirt, tie and vest sitting on the little chair in the back corner of the stage on bass, John singing some "ah"s off the mike while banging the hell out of the guitar, and the old brick wall behind them both with its burnt and discolored bricks going up two stories...that's how I'm gonna remember "Shadow Song" from now on.
What a great show.
Woke up on Anna's floor in DC at around 11am, showered and ate some breakfast, and we we were on the road by noon. In Philly around 3, found the bar soon after, and then headed to old town cause Anna's never been to this particular historic city and she's into that sort of shit. And it was fun going around with her, watching her get all excited about old bricks. Which are pretty exciting, when you think about it. I just don't often find myself thinking about it.
So we do that for the afternoon, but then at 530 we make a beeline back to the North Star cause we've heard tell that during happy hour beer is half off and food is cheap. We find ourselves to have heard correctly. I order a Yards, of which I'd previously been unaware. Anna orders a Woodchuck. The grand total: $4. Then Anna orders ten Buffalo wings and another Woodchuck. Grand total for that: $5. Then I order a Rogue hazelnut brown, just cause I'm feeling Northwesty. And because it's only $2.50. Philadelphia! We raise our glasses to you!
And the North Star was really a classy place. From the outside, as we were walking toward it, it occurred to me that this was going to be pretty akin to a place I used to go called Eden's Gate in Newberg OR. Which was a real shithole with a $2 Chinese buffet every tuesday. But oh how wrong I was. I love being wrong like that.
And then when the doors opened to the show area of the bar I looked around and saw a tiny little room (reported capacity 250) with a tiny little balcony and a stage high enough that no one was going to have any problems seeing the stage. And we found ourselves a nice little spot just in front of the roof-hanging speakers, maybe four feet from the stage, and we were happy.
And when the Mountain Goats came on they opened with an unbelievable rendition of "Wild Sage," inarguably the best I've ever heard them play it. And just as I had hoped, our spot beneath the speaker pretty much kept us from hearing anything but the band - no singers along, no assholes talking, just music. It was beautiful.
And the show was about twice as great as Baltimore was. Maybe three times as great. They did the new song "In the Craters of the Moon" again, as well as another one that I really dug called "September 15 1983." In addition to "Grendel's Mother" and "Tollund Man" and "Jenny" (Sang "one thing in the galaxy" this time too - I really hope this is a trend) and "Up the Wolves." I was dancing for sure.
And if Anna thought they were dressed well in Baltimore, well they were wearing fuckin SUITS tonight. Peter looked fabulous. John's pants were too big and he kind of looked like Dick Van Dyke doing the penguin dance. But who gives a fuck what people look like when they close the set with "Cubs in Five" and "The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton." Wow. I hadn't seen "Cubs in Five" since the very first time I ever saw them play, aka since before I even knew the song. So that was a lot of fun. And For all my bitching about people who sing at shows, there's exactly one time when I feel it's entirely appropriate and perhaps even necessary to do so: the "Hail Satan!"s. And I glanced over and even Anna's mouth was moving. Oh Anna.
And then for the encore: they start out with the repetitive chord that usually signals "Oceanographer's Choice," but then instead of "guy in a skeleton costume" comes, "I'm gonna drink more whiskey!!!!" That was pretty great. I hadn't seen "Commandante" since Olympia two years ago, aka not since I really learned to appreciate the tune. Then "Dance Music," then a particularly moving "Shadow Song," and then "This Year."
And the image of Peter in his pants, shoes, shirt, tie and vest sitting on the little chair in the back corner of the stage on bass, John singing some "ah"s off the mike while banging the hell out of the guitar, and the old brick wall behind them both with its burnt and discolored bricks going up two stories...that's how I'm gonna remember "Shadow Song" from now on.
What a great show.
posted by Peter Sohriakoff | 12:26 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home