Modest Mouse at the Pageant, Tuesday, July 1, 2008

• I saw them the night before (June 30) near Pittsburgh. I have been to a lot of great shows, ones I'll never forget a moment of. This was my first time seeing Modest Mouse, and in the past few days I've been unable to shake the experience. It was hands down the greatest art I've ever been a part of. I missed the opening act The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, but they joined Modest Mouse on stage for a few songs ("The Good Times are Killing Me," "This Devil's Workday"). Isaac was characteristically slightly schizophrenic, and each song suprised and elated me more than the last. I do wish they had played "Tiny Cities Made of Ashes," though - it's one of my favorites. I suppose it's a shame I never saw them back in the day, but the dissonant chaos was still thick Monday. I expected a lot from the show, as I've been a long-time fan of theirs but never was able to see them live. What I saw shattered every expectation; it has raised the bar for live music in my life.

• Swear on my stack of skinny jeans and ironic t-shirts (wait I don't own any), that I thought D.R.I. aka Dirty Rotten Imbeciles was opening. Instead it was DRI who was BORING. I'm sorry but the entire show was pretty whatever, except as noted above that Tiny Cities Made of Ashes smoked. Too bad that was the high point of the show about midway through. Plus, the feedback was INSANE.

• This was a fantastic show from start to finish. The opening act-Adrianne Verhoeven-DRI-who is a musical genius and has three OTHER geniuses playing with her at this point-was incredible also. Modest Mouse is truly amazing.

• This is probably not the forum for this but, I'm going to make one comment about Governor Rod Balgo.... He signed the smoking ban into law. Man he's got my vote next time, could ber the only one he gets but I'll give him my vote for doing just that. I have been to 2 shows at the Pageant in the last 2 months and I appreciate it sooo much. If St. Louis would do the same you'd be telling yourself how much you enjoy going out and not smelling like an ash tray. I mean if smokers would learn the word: MODERATION it might not be so bad. Anyway, the show was good last night. Tha band showed more energy than the crowd (except for the mosh pit). There was an annoying feedback during the first couple of songs that took away from the sound and showed up a few more times during the show. Hearing loss is a result. Wasn't too familiar with their set. But Dashboard and Float On were my big highlights and worth the price of admission. Johnny Marr is pretty cool too. Makes it look easy.

• On the oldest Modest Mouse mailing list another longtime fan once wrote after seeing an early Good News era show: Dear Modest Mouse, Remember when you used to rock? -Melanie For about five of the ten minutes that Tiny Cities Made of Ashes was playing last night, they remembered. The jerking Isaac Brock was there. The screaming into the pickups was there. The wash of angry fury and sloppy playing was there. It was five of the best minutes of my life. And then they played Bukowski...the stupid assholes.

• I've got the setlist here - http://dividing.wordpress.com

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