Fact: I am a die-hard Mountain Goats fan.
Fact: I listen to at least one Mountain Goats album start to finish about twice a month.
Fact: This was my first Mountain Goats show.
Fact: I knew a total of jack shit about Kaki King before Monday night.
If I weren’t such a busy man, browsing craigslist for the best deals on free Nordic Tracks all day, I would write two reviews for this show, because Kaki King certainly deserves to be judged separately for Monday’s performance. Alas, I need a free Nordic Track in the worst way, so she must share the limelight with the Mountain Goats.
Kaki King, the ATL-bred singer/songwriter/guitar virtuoso, boasted a wonderful performance chock full of progressive indie rock jams and acoustic, finger-pickin’ flurries. There were times during her solo songs that I found myself thinking, “Well, I’ll never be that good at anything I ever do.” Later on during his own set, John Darnielle said something quite similar, confirming that he too realizes he will never come close to achieving King’s technical ability. While her solo, classical-esque tunes were wonderful to experience first-hand, I am left wondering if they were the right choice for the opening act. The aforementioned “indie jams” were much more engaging for an audience who primarily came to see Darnielle belt out tunes of meth addicts and destroyed relationships. Oh well, the solo pieces didn’t spoil anything and, if nothing else, they were fun to watch. All in all, Kaki King is a recommended act.
Onward to the main event! The Mountain Goats! Now, one has to understand that I am somewhat incapable of giving even a remotely unbiased review of this show. Darnielle’s voice is sexual gratification to my ears, and his cadence and lyrical content really speak to the “inner Tighe.” That being said, let me describe what transpired:
Darnielle stepped onto stage, the Showbox went wild. As Darnielle said “hello,” “thank you,” “great to be here,” the decibels became rather intolerable. Darnielle picked up his guitar, and the Showbox began shouting out requests! As the Mountain Goats began their 90 minute set, the Showbox sang almost every single word with him.
I imagine that the crowd would have been able to sing every single work had Darnielle himself been able to remember all the lyrics to all his songs. He would proclaim from time to time, “Alright, let’s see if I can remember this one!” At which point he would start the song and, almost prophetically, drop lyrics from the number. That was one of the great things about seeing someone who has written thousands of songs: you never know what you are going to get. You may get a spot-on version of “Pigs That Ran Straightaway Into The Water, Triumph Of” or you may get a semi complete performace of “Jenny.” You never know!
Later on in the show, Darnielle brought Kaki King back out to perform some tracks from their new collaboration, The Black Pear Tree. During the first song they sang I thought to myself, “Meh…” but had a rapid opinion reversal as they journeyed through the next three or four songs which included a fantastic cover of The Smiths’ “I’m So Sorry.”
The show wrapped up with a great encore that touched songs from my favorite album, All Hail West Texas, and a second encore where Darnielle came out looking a bit flustered and said, “If you want to hear this song, you guys are gonna have to sing it.” And then there it was… “No Children,” the song he hates to sing. Though he did sing it, just not into the mic. I doubt one could have heard a mic’d Darnielle over the sing-a-long crowd anyways, they were as happy as I had seen them all night.
While I thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of the Mountain Goats, my wonderful partner, who is not a die-hard fan, said she wasn’t that impressed and prefers their studio work. I was shocked but felt it futile to dispute such a claim; I had a great time and that’s all I cared about.
Favorite line of the night:
John Darnielle to a fan who wanted to shake his hand: “Sorry, it’s not you… it’s the germs!”
Second Favorite line:
King to the crowd: “You should buy the poster we have put together at the merch stand… it’s of me… naked… on a bed.”
he is amazing bro his style can not be touched....some people dont know what he is talking about caz u dont do what he does he is sickkk bra
by dylyn on Thu Mar 18, 2010 at 11.59 am from the entry: Wiz Khalifa: Burn After Rolling (Mixtape)
Wow,Great post.Thanks for sharing with us. land wi
by wisconsin land on Thu Mar 18, 2010 at 09.53 am from the entry: of Montreal + Gang Gang Dance - Orpheum Theatre (Boston, MA; Oct. 30, 2008)
Ugh. Paste’s profile of Free Energy made me kind of hate them. So does your review. It’s this unctuous defense of good-time rock-and-roll ("we’re just here to party, and we’re awesome!") that seems more self-serving than fun-loving.
by beth on Wed Mar 17, 2010 at 09.41 pm from the entry: Foreign Born + Free Energy - The Knitting Factory (Brooklyn, NY; Mar. 12, 2010)
that inescapable feeling you are referring to, is that like when you hear something and you could have sworn you heard it before because of the nostalgic catchy quality? or is is like when you’ve heard a band exactly like said band?
great post by the way!
by paul on Wed Mar 17, 2010 at 03.15 pm from the entry: The Novel Ideas - "The Sky Is A Field" - Borrow It
Whoa! I had no idea she was enegaged. You would never know with the way she behaves! Wow!
by art on Wed Mar 17, 2010 at 09.48 am from the entry: Nikki Darlin and John McCauley: 1+1=1
This comment stream is so meta. Great review Kelly.
by chris on Tue Mar 16, 2010 at 07.50 pm from the entry: Flying Lotus - "Cosmogramma" - Buy It
no prob. The whole album is excellent, combining some of the harder sonics of Los Angeles with the meat of his debut and obviously difficult to summarize in only 50 words… 
I’d say it’s on par with the debut, but better than Los Angeles.
by kelly on Tue Mar 16, 2010 at 06.23 pm from the entry: Flying Lotus - "Cosmogramma" - Buy It
