March 22 2008: The Mountain Goats, the Moaners - Black Cat Mainstage, Washington DC

Washington DC! Anna was there, Ryan and Heather came up for a couple nights, Anna brought a friend who went to George Fox and apparently had a class with me, and we all got there early to grab eight barstools and start the night right with eight shots of the finest cheapest whiskey in the house. And, though those who know me might suspect the following statement to be a lie, I honestly didn't mean to order Heather one. Cause, you know, I'm her friend and I know she doesn't particularly enjoy finest cheapest whiskeys in the same way that some of us do. But it got ordered, and then that was that, and she downed it like a champ. Shit yes. It was that kind of night.

Ryan and I went pretty quick to PBR, cause sometimes you just can't beat $3 pints in plastic cups. And cause that helped Ryan's booze allowance (as dictated by the half of his marriage that brings home a paycheck) slide further than it might have otherwise, and cause I didn't feel the need to get all highbrow when my buddy's drinking Pabst. I forget what Caitlin was drinking, but let's just say she went for PBR too. An all-for-one night it certainly was.

And man, it was fun. Show started with a really great "Michael Myers Resplendent," into "Heretic Pride," into "Quito," on which I'd forgotten how great Peter's backing vocals sound and wow maybe that was the best performance of "Quito" I've ever seen excepting maybe that one time in Chicago, into a great great "Marduk T-Shirt Men's Room Incident," definitely the best of the tour, into "Wild Sage," which I'd call the best of the tour but that song is always so fucking great it's just too hard to tell. Man. Man do I love "Wild Sage."

The acoustic set was four songs long, including a song sung in Spanish that I'd never heard before and for which John had to ask someone in the crowd for help with the words. And the third song was "Elijah," which I'd never heard, and which has generally been and continues to remain one of my all-time favorite Mountain Goats tunes. And he just went right into it, just like that. Not even a second thought. Goddamn. And Caitlin was nice enough to go refill my PBR for me. I'll say it again, Goddamn.

After the acoustic songs, six tunes rounded out the set: "In the Craters on the Moon," "Song for Dennis Brown," "Dilaudid," "Love, Love, Love," "Sept 15 1983," "See America Right." And they were all fabulous, but I think "See America Right" was probably the best I've ever seen it. And I've seen it a lot, and seen it played pretty fucking nicely. Better than that time at Dartmouth? Better than that time in Northampton? Chicago? I think so.

Encore started with "Lovecraft in Brooklyn," loud and fast. Followed by "So Desperate," which I'd not really enjoyed all that much in past sets, but which finally made sense to me. For whatever reason, I'm not sure. Maybe it was just all that cheap beer floating around inside me. Followed by "This Year," which the kids dug. Gotta keep those kids happy.

Second encore was "Palmcorder Yajna" into "California Song." And man, I'll follow a tour any day of the week just to hear them play "California Song" as the last song on the last night. I got joy joy joy in my soul tonight.

And we ordered another round of whiskeys before leaving, and once again we ordered eight, and well, what are you gonna do. You're gonna give the eighth one to Heather and apologize and toast to rock and roll.