Taking the Fillmore stage to an adoring crowd, The Mountain Goats wasted no time in delivering an energetic, compelling live show.
Opening act Midtown Dickens played indie bluegrass reminiscent of The Band mixed with the rustic harmonies of Fleet Foxes. The group, comprised of Kym Register, Catherine Edgerton, and Will Hackney, brandished instruments representative of their Durham, North Carolina home. During It’s Alright, Edgerton alternated between spoons, saw, and harmonica with the aplomb of a grizzled mountain man. Rather than being a one-song gimmick, the saw made a return in Apple Tree and provided a sharp wail to cut through the song’s slower, muted banjo. Their lively, fun energy turned around a crowd that seemed at first disdainful. It was like one of those movies where the snobby coastal elite meets the down-home southerner and they eventually warm each others’ hearts, except with more thick black-rimmed glasses.
The Mountain Goats exists primarily as a vehicle for singer-songwriter John Darnielle. His high, nasal voice is one of the few constants in an eclectic discography. Their sound has ranged from stripped-down lo-fi acoustic to indie pop to orchestral epics, in the service of songs covering lost youths, drug abuse, religion, and regret. Darnielle was joined by regular band members Peter Hughes on bass and Jon Wurster (of Superchunk and The Best Show on WFMU) on drums, and Yuval Samo on piano. Though Darnielle is the focal point of the show, each band member received a chance to show off their formidable skills. Wurster consistently crushed the drums, Hughes’s bass solo on the driving Southwood Plantation Road was the definition of kickass, and Samo’s piano playing was especially effective when he and Darnielle paired off to play Tyler Lambert’s Grave.
John Darnielle’s spirits and energy were in equally high supply. After opening with Liza Forever Minelli from their last release All Eternals Deck, he exclaimed “I’ve been wanting to sing that song in California for a while.” His banter was witty and concise, whether criticizing the penchant for nostalgia before Age of Kings (“If you ever meet somebody who wants to tell you how much better music was when he was 19 then it is now that he is 29, I feel it is your solemn duty to kill him”) or extolling the virtues of beer before Quito (“Simple, yet elegant”). The only moment where the chemistry between the crowd and singer wasn’t completely airtight came when Darnielle gently scolded the audience for clapping along to You Were Cool, chiding them “Please don’t clap, it distracts me.” His joy to be in San Francisco translated into a decidedly uptempo show, the audience reacting with equal excitement.
Darnielle’s technical showmanship was fully on display, resulting in one of the most satisfyingly built rock shows this side of a Springsteen concert. Some bands with a back catalog as extensive as The Mountain Goats’ have trouble providing a comprehensive overview of their discography in a live show, but the setlist ranged from throughout the band’s career, from Tallahassee, their first record as a full band, to Bitter Melon Farm, a collection of lo-fi recordings which received the most attention during Darnielle’s mid-show solo acoustic set. The frontman played the part of professional indie rocker with almost professorial zeal, pushing the mic into the crowd to let the audience sing No Children, running off stage for mere seconds to ramp up the already lathered fervor before the second encore, and maintaining an energy that never allowed the performance to drag.
When The Mountain Goats walked off stage after a victorious triple encore performance of The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton, John Darnielle could be satisfied that he had infected the crowd with the same enthusiastic, appreciative joy he had brought to the stage.
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Mountain Goats – Damn These Vampires from All Eternals Deck (2011)
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Midtown Dickens – Old Dogs from Lanterns (2009)