The Mountain Goats were in Calgary last night to “open” for The New Pornographers. Yeah, open.
So let me start with saying that this isn’t really a review of the 40 minute show (more or less) of John Darnielle & Co.’s first ever visit to Calgary but more of a snippet of my thoughts about it. The show was pretty darn special, mainly because I adore this band. There I am biased, I fully admit it.
They played a full range of songs – even a couple of older tracks with full admission from Darnielle of the fact that they have never been here before, so why not?! It was pretty darn good, some solo stuff…nice. They sound great live, JD’s voice (with backing from Hughes) is pretty much spot on – he may throw an extra “Hey!” and such here and there, maybe even lose his place but it is all good. There were classics like “Game Shows Touch Our Lives” and even newer classics like “No Children” and “This Year”, but it was the stand out “Love, Love, Love” that got down to a hush at times that really stole the show (for me). Despite there not being any of my favourite classics there (from the albums All Hail West Texas and Tallahassee mostly) it was damn fine.
Damn fine for an “opening set”. Sorry – I am a bit off put by the fact that the arguable indie icon (non-arguable in my opinion) was relegated (?) to the warm up slot for The New Pornographers. Yes, we are in Canada and yes the Pornos have a brand new album – but still. Also the fact that the show was at the University of Calgary I am sure swayed it a lot more to the more younger hip indie crowd as opposed to the “older” Mountain Goats fans. Of which I fall into the latter. Oh well – The New Pornos are a fine band, just not one that I would bend over backwards for and I think I am (incorrectly) mad at them for making one of my all time favourite bands open the show at 8:00pm and be retired to their tour bus before 9:00pm on show night. John Darnielle and Peter Hughes didn’t don their suit & tie for that… ;-)
$0.02
Enjoy a nice little out-take of an unreleased 7″ release from themountingoats.net.
“Adair” – The Mountain Goats, from the Jake & Faye 7″
~Smansmith
p.s. Thanks to The New Pornographers for giving me the opportunity to see The Mountain Goats, I honestly mean that with no sarcasm at all. So….bring them back again?
Comments
3 responses to “The Mountain Goats in Calgary – my thoughts on the subject.”
Don’t get me wrong, you’re still my man-crush Sandman, but I still think this is a bit misguided. Not really the first time that a headliner has had an opening act (yeah, opening act: I said it) that accounted for a good portion of the crowd. I’m not trying to backhand J.D. here, enjoyed him on the Colbert Report and a few other spots I’ve heard (some of the old CB’ers loved him, I just never “felt it”), but it’s hard to compare’m against multiple performers who are headliners in their own right… who are in the same group. Newman & Case (I’m assuming she was there, that’s what was advertised, anyways) have their own followings, let alone their collective fanbase as this “powerhouse.” If marketing the show as co-headliners would make you feel better, that’s cool, but it just doesn’t make sense.
Anyways, sorry you had to pay so much to see the Mountain Goats. Hope you still had fun though.
Bro-hug,
Chris
I didn’t want to say it out loud but I completely agree with you. I do love the New Pornos but John Darnielle is, well, John Darnielle. Matthew 25:21 was the standout for me. Gauging his reaction to the crowd, I think he’ll be back.
@chris – Yeah I do hear you, but it was more about who is an “opener” as opposed to who should be the headliner. TNP are definitely a headliner, but I don’t see them using TMG as a opener (for their style of music, crowd, etc….). I don’t even feel that co-headliners would have been fair to both bands…I just found it an odd match up.
And for paying so much…it was worth it, it is one I get to check off the list (but would see again in a heartbeat).
oh, and big bro-hugs to you too – drinks soon!
~S.
p.s. @Funnygrrl – thanks for the agreement, that puts you in my good books! “Love, Love, Love” was my stand out! I surely hope he does return.