Post Show Banter >>>>

It was great!

The show was the tour opener, and the first without Peter :( John didn't seem to have a setlist on his side, so he prompted Matt to call out the songs. They turned it into a running joke which was entertaining. He also flubbed a song or two and had to start over, but that's the special sauce that makes a concert feel like a "one time" event. Wurster was spot on and entertaining to watch as he's both plugged in and in his own world at the same time. Don't know how he does it.  They brought up their roadie, Ben, to play bass for a few numbers late in the show. He pushed through the nerves and held his own, but was understandably flat.

After the show he handed me Matt's (i.e., John's) setlist. Another for the collection!

The opener, Tift Merritt was fantastic, if not nervous. She hadn't been on tour in maybe a decade, so she was verrrry self-conscious on stage. She's descended from the traditions of Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez and maybe a sprinkle of Dolly Parton. Really talented and would have hit greater success in the 70s, thoroughly enjoyed her set.

And yes, get there at 5 and grab the first number to secure your spot for order of entry. The best spot is a front row table just left of center. That'll be in front of John with a good view of the very awkwardly placed piano. (People on the right can't see the piano player.)

I hadn't been to the Birchmere in literally decades and its just as bad as I remember. It's not very, ummm, "rock-n-roll".

grateful wrote:
I hadn't been to the Birchmere in literally decades and its just as bad as I remember. It's not very, ummm, "rock-n-roll".

sounds like you didn't eat there?

Multivisti-hatch wrote:

grateful wrote:
I hadn't been to the Birchmere in literally decades and its just as bad as I remember. It's not very, ummm, "rock-n-roll".

sounds like you didn't eat there?

Ha! I ate at Water Park before the show. The other people at my table didn't seem at all pleased by their chicken tenders.

I'll have gone to the Birchmere (I think) 3 times: tonights show, the last duo MG show, and a Yo La Tengo show 1,000 years ago.  It's the worst.

grateful, about when did they go on?  And do you have a general vibe of when it started to get busy?  I'm going solo, so it's usually not too bad to find a seat, but I also dont' want to get there too early if I don't have to

Timing:

Box office / line: 5pm
Venue opens: 6pm
Opener: 730pm
MG: 830pm

There were still a few open seats all night, even though it was sold out. That said, I'd try to get there by 615 / 630

Never had a bad time at Birchmere but I avoid it

Bad Nerves put on a great albeit short (35mins) opening set

the venue was about 60% full (2500?), but quite the difference from the show I saw in Richmond 6 months with about 50 people (although that set wasn't a whole lot longer, they have fast short songs)

98% of the crowd was there for nothing but thieves
but there were a fair number of Bad Nerves fans bopping about in the crowd, they weren't hard to spot

The mix did get kinda lost in that big venue, sounded better when NBT took the stage
the guitars sounded very crisp, the vocals were muddy

Bobby Nerves did a great job getting the crowd engaged and I could tell they turned on a lot of new fans after that set
There was a funny moment where he said normally, he'd have his sunglasses on for this song, but he just broke them and asked if he could borrow one from the audience…which a number of people offered up a pair.  although he jumps around so much, they didn't last more than a few seconds, but really built up the tension as that song got started and then just exploded



so left about 45 mins into the NBT set, to later find out they covered where is my mind :(
they really were not that memorable of a band, but the crowd was into it and seemed to know all their songs

Z

welp  ********* lots of redacted highly volatile content that could have changed how the world operates

nkotb wrote:
How was the show?  Looking forward to it, though I had the Birchmere.  Insanely short drive, but I still need to get there early to find a good seat.

grateful wrote:

nkotb wrote:
Mountain Goats on Tuesday

Tonight

What did you think of the show?

It's fortunate my kid had a free period first period today, and fortunate that we didn't know the later than guessed at headliner start time until we got there.

But we got there, and both my kid and I loved the Aaron Frazer show at the Atlantis. Save for seeing Bruce Springsteen for the first time earlier this year, I can't think of a show I enjoyed more this year.

My kid even stuck it out to the end after asking if we could leave early when we found out about the set time. I could tell she liked the show because she later commented that "it would have been lame for us to leave early."

Space wrote:
"it would have been lame for us to leave early."

growth!

Went to see Matt Johnson and his crack band last night, his voice deep and smooth as always.

First part of the show was as Matt described it, the sit and listen section, where they played through all of Ensoulment.  Nothing against the album but clearly released with no intended chart friendly singles and as my brother said many of the songs do tend to sound alike.  Clearly, an album Matt hoped people would just sit and listen to.  Some live variations from the originals, was enjoyable to hear live.

Second part was the get up and dance singalong section, where they played almost all of the well known singles and hits which of course was the highlight of the show.  Only song really missing was "Beat(en) Generation" which is my favorite The The song. Band delivered some rather lively versions of some songs, the drummer really kicking the band into high gear.  Really can't go wrong when they opened the second set with "Infected" and "Armageddon Days Are Here (Again)". 

His band is James Eller who has been with him since Mind Bomb, equally adapt and regular and fretless bass, those bass lines all so good. DC Collard who was added as the keyboardist for the "Mind Bomb" tour and was just having a blast playing the piano solo at the end of "Uncertain Smile".  That solo which I may have known this before was originally played by Jools Holland, which totally fits his style of playing.

On lead guitar was sideman to the stars Barrie Caogan aka Little Barrie, who was able at times to add in the higher range background vocals that feature in many of the songs. Matt's regular touring drummer Earl Harvin was apparently unable to do this time out, so they brought in Chris Whitten as his replacement.  Who is best know for playing on "World Shut Your Mouth", "The Whole Of The Moon" and yes  Edie Brickell's "What I Am".  Also, spent some time with a dude called Paul McCartney… yes wikipedia is my friend…

Totally worth it for the Retrospective set alone…  Also, and yes likely due to the age of the crowd, but for the most part people abided by Matt's wishes to keep the phones put away.

kosmo wrote:
Went to see Matt Johnson and his crack band last night,

This is the natural outcome of us not pushing back firmly enough on hutch labeling things “hobo rock” — now we have Kosmo declaring entire bands crackheads.

Of what I heard -albeit not much- The The sounded fantastic!

Tuesday night didn't seem as free-wheeling as Monday, but they really sounded great and were having a great time.  That said, lot's of overlap in songs (10 or 12 I think?), so maybe it wasn't.

We did have the pleasure of seeing John ask for someone's phone to remember the words to an older song (Store) and then again on Luna. 

As much as I think the Birchmere is lame, it's pretty nice to get to a venue in 10 minutes and then be home at 10:30.

grateful wrote:

nkotb wrote:
How was the show?  Looking forward to it, though I had the Birchmere.  Insanely short drive, but I still need to get there early to find a good seat.

grateful wrote:

nkotb wrote:
Mountain Goats on Tuesday

Tonight

What did you think of the show?

hutch wrote:
Of what I heard -albeit not much- The The sounded fantastic!

Really enjoyed the show. I thought they sounded great. Got to meet Matt afterwards, and he was just about as lovely as you could ever imagine. He seemed genuinely touched that I told him that all of The The's LPs are markers in my life of certain places, and that each came to me at points when I had major things occurring, and they reminded me of those times. Barrie was a sweetheart, as was James. Very happy that I finally got to see them perform, and though I appreciate Kosmo's comments on the new LP, I actually think that the songs are nuanced, well-written, and in spite of an overall cohesive mood/vibe, the record holds up as some of Johnson's best work. But I have spent some time with it and had time to absorb it. I will say that I prefer the second half, but it's really worth sitting down with and giving a little attention to.

nkotb wrote:
Tuesday night didn't seem as free-wheeling as Monday, but they really sounded great and were having a great time.  That said, lot's of overlap in songs (10 or 12 I think?), so maybe it wasn't.

We did have the pleasure of seeing John ask for someone's phone to remember the words to an older song (Store) and then again on Luna. 

As much as I think the Birchmere is lame, it's pretty nice to get to a venue in 10 minutes and then be home at 10:30.

grateful wrote:

nkotb wrote:
How was the show?  Looking forward to it, though I had the Birchmere.  Insanely short drive, but I still need to get there early to find a good seat.

grateful wrote:

nkotb wrote:
Mountain Goats on Tuesday

Tonight

What did you think of the show?

Good times indeed. It takes me a full hour to get to and from Birchmere, so that's a deterrent to start. I'm less than 10 minutes from FSS and still rarely go there. 930/Atlantis hits the sweet spot with solid bookings and ease of transportation.

That Air show….
It's 1975 and we're all going to outer space in our living room, have a cocktail.
They've never sounded or looked this good.

I was lucky enough to catch Air twice on this tour. Philly blew my mind. DC was even better. For my gripes about Anthem, I almost wonder if it's a bit ahead of its time because a production like this one was PERFECT for the venue. Whereas in Philly it was in a beautiful opera house, the sound wasn't loud enough and I could hear people behind me talking. At Anthem, it all came together beautifully…light, sound, performance, setlist. It was one of those evenings where it felt brief…it was incredibly tight, choreographed, and artistically presented. It was by far my favorite tour of theirs, but I think because of my love of Air, probably one of my favorite tours of any band I've ever seen. Really a special performance and I'm so grateful I got to see this.