The Pageant sold out last Wednesday, Feb. 24, to feature Modest Mouse, an act that is gaining much mainstream popularity. In the past few months, Modest Mouse has surprisingly been heard on the radio with their releases of "Float On" and "The Ocean Breathes Salty." It wasn't eight months ago that Modest Mouse was still playing their songs of philosophical irony in back-alley bars-that is, until their breakthrough record of "Good News for People Who Love Bad News."
This sudden rise to fame created a dynamic crowd for the Pageant. On one hand there were the traditional indie rockers who have been following the band for years, while others, mainly classified as teenyboppers, simply came for the smash radio hits. Nonetheless, the band did its best to accommodate both genres by mainly playing songs from the recent release "Good News for People Who Love Bad News."
After waiting a ridiculously long time for Modest Mouse to take the stage, they opened strongly with one of my personal favorites, "3rd Planet," off their second album "The Moon and Antarctica." This song was immediate gratification for long-time fans, who sang along and found themselves lost in the powerful crescendos.
This energy only heightened as the band continued the set with "Black Cadillacs" as the crowd chanted the staccato lyrics of, "I'm done, done, done with f–, f–, f–in' around." This provided a great transition into the third song, "Float On," by far the best-known the set list. The song garnered the most enthusiasm from the audience and almost everybody, especially those on the floor, went absolutely crazy.
The concert continued on with many of the crowd's favorite songs like "Paper Thin Walls," "Ocean Breathes Salty" and "Tiny Cities Made of Ashes." At the end of "Doin' the Cockroach," Modest Mouse had a striking rock-out session, which the fans supported thoroughly. The band also played "Dramamine," which is apparently rare for their live set.
Following the regular set list, Modest Mouse finished with a powerful encore consisting of "World at Large" and "The Good Times are Killing Me."
Perhaps the most impressive thing about the concert was the band's ability to still produce a cohesive sound, while combining the sounds of an upright bass, piano, guitar, bongo, banjo and caustic vocals. For the most part, Modest Mouse successfully executed and recreated their sound from "Good News for People Who Love Bad News," which is, in reality, full of pretty harsh sounds and lyrics. Although these multiple sound layers came together well for a live rendition, at some points they became extremely muddled, causing the band to lose some overall quality points.
However, the band failed to really convey any excitement about performing, and their overall stage presentation left much to be desired. They did not make one side comment to the audience, and went from one song to the next without any real direction.
The band members themselves were not lacking in energy in the slightest, though. Lead vocalist (as well as pianist and guitarist) Issac Brock rocked furiously while delivering his lyrics, and maybe more of that energy should have been directed toward the fans.
Though the band didn't make much of an effort to connect with the audience, they were still well-received by the sing-along crowd. Throughout the concert, some of the fans relentlessly moshed to songs that moshing wasn't really intended for. I guess there's a few of those in every crowd.
The opening acts of Cass McCombs and Mason Jennings were rather unimpressive. Cass McCombs was awful and the crowd rejected him thoroughly. Mason Jennings' set improved toward the end and became bearable. Nonetheless, the fans were more than ready for the long-awaited headliner to take over.
Despite my complaints, overall, the concert was pretty amazing and reaffirmed Modest Mouse's indie greatness. They are every bit deserving of their Grammy nominations for best rock song and best alternative album. Hopefully this attention will continue to increase their fan base and further acknowledge their brilliance.
