November 23 2008: Rusty Belle - Black Moon, Belchertown MA
We agreed to play this Southern Rock Tribute Night in Belchertown in exchange for a real gig there later on down the road. Which meant we drove to Belchertown, drank a few free beers at this really suprisingly nice place, played our most southern rock sounding tunes, and then sat down with more free beers to watch Rusty Belle play. They did covers like they/we were supposed to. Pretty good ones too. "Tuesday's Gone" and "Up On Cripple Creek" were the highlights. And I feel like they did something by the Stones but I can't recall what it was.
November 15 2008: Iron & Wine, Blitzen Trapper - Pearl Street Ballroom, Northampton MA
Went solo to this show, after working eight hours and with 12 more to look forward to starting 7am the next day. But I hadn't seen Iron + Wine as a full band ever, and only once otherwise, and Blitzen Trapper were opening. So I was looking forward to things.
Ran into Sasha and Sara and stuck with them on the right side of the stage through the Blitzen Trapper set, most of which I didn't know but much of which I enjoyed. They closed with "Wild Mountain Nation" and it was probably their best tune of the night. Also the only tune of theirs I listen to with any semblance of regularity (read: probably once every three to 5 months). Draw conclusions as you care to.
Folks were flocking a little too heavily to where Sasha/Sara were, as they often seem to do, so I headed over to the left side for the Iron/Wine set. The Iron/Wine main mude and a backing lady opened as a duo with "He Lays In The Reins," which was quite nice. And they went into "Upward Over the Mountain," one of my favorite tunes but with a tambourine keeping the beat, and with the beat being just a hair too quick for how I feel the song ought to be played, it lacked that certain something.
A few more tunes were played minimalist-style, mostly new ones I don't know. They did do "Sea and the Rhythm" though, fucking perfectly. Shame they couldn't have hit all their songs like that one though, cause after the acoustic numbers out came a fucking reggae band. Reggae for "Woman King," which kind of worked but mostly didn't. Reggae for new songs which just served to bore me. And reggae for "Sodom South Georgia," which didn't work to the extent that I wonder if a better song as ever been played so wrongly.
Show ended, and I walked home wondering why I'd lost sleep just to watch Hampshire kids get down instead of leaving the second "Sea and the Rhythm" finished.
November 8 2008: The Mountain Goats, Kaki King, Larkin Grimm - Music Hall of Williamsburg, Brooklyn NY
Rolled into New York in the early afternoon and spent the early afternoon taking it easy and reading and drinking coffee. Picked up a $6 half-pint of Jim Beam to ward off any temptation to buy multiple $9 drinks again, got a veggie burger and a salad and a beer at a Mugs on Bedford Ave, and made it to the Music Hall a few minutes after 8. Just in time to enjoy a couple $3 happy-hour-till-9pm Sierras. Which, if you're doing math and figuring in those 200ml of Beam like I wasn't, might start to make you nervous. You might be right to start to get nervous.
Got a great spot on the left side of the mezzanine, with a chair and a little table and a railing to lean on. The Music Hall seems way smaller when you're not on the floor, apparently.
The first act was competent but nothing to write home about. And Kaki King was better than she was the night before. But the Mountain Goats were fucking on. From what I could tell, anyway. Cause after Kaki King finished her set I poured my pint of Beam into my empty beer glass and started in. For some reason I was operating on the idea that 200ml of booze is two shots. I'm not sure why. But I'm here to tell you that it's definitely not. So the first half of the show is much more clear in my memory than the second. Opened with "Have to Explode" and "Heretic Pride" again, and it's not a bad way to start the show. "Pigs That Ran Straightaway Into the Water" was next. What a great fucking tune. I've always wondered why that one was never a staple of the live set. It works so well. Then "Moon Over Goldsboro," again amazing, into "Quito" which is always nice to hear, into "How To Embrace a Swamp Creature," which was great to hear again.
Then things started to get a bit fuzzy. John played "The Recognition Scene" and "Thank You Mario" solo, and the same tunes with Kaki as in Philly. It was great to have the view from the mezzanine for Kaki's lap steel part on "Supergenesis," which again kicked much ass. Probably the best song of the night, but a pretty convincing arguement could be made for "Moon Over Goldsboro" too.
After "Supergenesis" they did "Sept 15 1983," "No Children," "This Year." And that's when things got really really fuzzy. In fact, that's where I kind of passed out for minutes at a time on that rail I'd been leaning against. That's the sort of thing that happens when you drink 200ml of 80-proof liquor and then give it 45 minutes to really kick in. I recall the encore consisting of "The Mess Inside" and "Palmcorder Yajna." Appparently "Dance Music" and "Hast Thou Considered the Tetrapod" got played too. At least nothing happened that I hadn't seen happen before, but I'm sad I wasn't able to enjoy the show like I might have otherwise. But what can you. Oh, that's right: you can not drink a half-pint of cheap bourbon. That's exactly what you can do.
November 7 2008: The Mountain Goats, Kaki King - Theater of the Living Arts, Philadelphia PA
Got up early and drove my ass to Philadelphia. Not much traffic, $2.20 gas, weekend off, Mountain Goats relatively nearby and free tickets offered. Not a hard decision to make.
Got into town and drank a couple half-price happy hour beers and ate the best tempeh sandwich of my young life at the Royal Tavern, aka a place I had suspected but can now confirm to be my favorite place to eat/drink in Philly. Found another place down the street from the venue that was pretty quiet and drank another not-even-close-to-half-price beer and read a bit, waiting for the doors to open. I could see the kids queuing up down the block, but I guess I just can't get into that shit anymore. Give me an overpriced Yuengling and Larry McMurtry's 1999 memoir over chilly air and excited kids any day of the week.
Once the line cleared I walked down only to be turned away at the door by the security guy who objected to the pens I had in my bag. "No ink pens my man. I'll have to take those," he said. What the fuck. And it's not like I'm going to give him my pens. I told him I'd leave them in the car and be right back. I walked around the corner, put them in my shoe, came back. He let me in after groping me all over looking for, presumably, more pens. What the fuck.
Inside, it was easily the largest place I've ever seen the Mountain Goats play. I believe the capacity to the place is 810. That's a lot of people. I said hi to Brandon and set up shop in the bar to the left side of the stage, which wasn't a bad place to set up shop at all. Elevated so that I could see over the crowd and pretty close and with a waitress who came by every 20 or so minutes to sell me $9 drinks. I bought a few, figuring I hadn't paid admission so what the hell.
And why hadn't I paid admission? Because about six months ago Christen Greene emailed me asking for Darnielle's email address. She was doing publicity work for Kaki King and I guess Darnielle had left Ms. King a message in a green room somewhere and she saw it and wanted to get in touch with him, asked Christen if she knew anyone who knew him, Christen emailed me, and everything worked out. And then everything really worked out when they recorded an EP together and did a tour. To which Christen offered me guestlist spots for my services.
Kaki was awful. Easily the most technically proficient guitarist I've ever seen play. But awful, boring, etc. Didn't help that it seemed like she played for an hour and a half.
But the Mountain Goats! Here to save the day, opening with "Have to Explode" and "Heretic Pride." "Have to Explode" was great with a full band, definitely better than how John was playing it solo earlier this year, and it was great to hear "Heretic Pride" again. Not one of their very best songs, but definitely not one of their worst and a solid lots-of-energy-for-the-beginning-of-the-set jam.
Third tune was "The Mess Inside," one of my very favorite Mountain Goats tunes, and one that I've seen bring down the fucking house. Or rather, that I've seen bring down the fucking college coffee shop and the fucking barn. But with the full band it was slowed down slightly and the drums kept things a bit too steady. The give-and-take of the rhythm guitar in the recording, and in the solo performances I've seen, got sacrificed for a steady beat with no nuance. And it lessened the song in the same way that the full band lessened "Twin Human Highway Flares" when I saw them play it in Springfield last year. I definitely like most of the full-band arrangements the Mountain Goats have going these days, but some songs just don't work like that, and "The Mess Inside" definitely seems to be one of them. Which is too bad, cause what a great fucking song.
"New Zion" and "Moon Over Goldsboro" were next. Both were great. And "Moon Over Goldsboro" was beyond great. I don't think I'd heard it live since the 2006 tour immediately after "Get Lonely" was issued, and at that time it hadn't really entered my consciousness as a Great Tune. So I was glad to get the chance to hear it again.
John played some solo tunes in the middle of the set, just like he was doing earlier this year. They were, in order: "Source Decay" (great as always, and I don't think I'd seen him do this one without Peter), "Attention All Pickpockets" (great) and "Sinaloon Milk Snake Song" (never figured I'd hear it live and lots of fun). And then he did "Black Pear Tree." Just went right into it, playing the piano chords on the guitar. It was amazing. Easily my favorite song since that EP arrived in my mailbox last week. He sang the first verse and Kaki King came out in time to sing the harmony on "I suspect it's going to have to be." Then Kaki sang the rest of it just like she does on the record. It was fantastic.
Then they did "Bring Our Curses Home," my othe favorite song on that EP, with John singing and Kaki playing. Then "Mosquito Repellent," during which the band came back. Then a Morrissey tune I didn't know and then "Supergenesis," which I didn't much care for before but it was maybe the sonic highlight of the night. It sounded nothing like the record. John on electric, Kaki on fuzzboxed lap steel, Peter and Wurster playing what they play. The lap steel was AMAZING. My only regret was that I couldn't see how she was doing it cause she was sitting on the stage with it in her lap. I could listen to this song like they played it at every show and be happy.
After "Supergenesis" Kaki left and the band did "Sept 15 1983," which I think is one of their best songs ever, Thin Lizzy's "The Boys Are Back In Town," "No Children" and "This Year." The kids up front got excited for those last two. So did the grown men acting like kids next to me in the bar. What can you do.
Encore was "Pigs that Ran Straightaway Into The Water," which was lots of fun with the full band and only the second time I'd seen it played at all, followed by "Palmcorder Yajna." Second encore was "Houseguest." Yawn.
And I went to get some pretzles from that place Caitlin and I stumbled onto on Washington Ave that opens at midnight the last time we were here. Good fucking times.
