Modest Mouse *** 1/2
September 15, The Joint
A bearded, sweater-clad Isaac Brock kept the banter to a minimum at Saturday’s nearly-sold-out hour-and-a-half, and rightly so. After opening with “Bury Me with It” and “Paper Thin Walls,” the singer mentioned seeing a Bible-clutching unfortunate passed out outside the hotel elevator ... so the band members all went to get their cameras. “Dashboard” and “Fire It Up” from March’s We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank followed, and Brock remarked upon losing $4 in the casino. The remainder of the time he allowed his gruff smoker’s bark to sing for itself, alternating from regular to vocal-distorting microphones (and switching from guitar to banjo for “Bukowski” and “Satin in a Coffin”).
Keyboardist Tom Peloso and bassist Eric Judy mixed it up as well, cycling through acoustic guitar, accordion, upright bass, violin and trumpet for songs including “Education,” “Fly Trapped in a Jar” and “Parting of the Sensory.” Even percussionists Jeremiah Green and Joe Plummer broke out the maracas and congas, not to mention another pair of hands to tackle the evening’s highlight, a dense, extended, strobe-heavy version of “Tiny Cities Made of Ashes.”
Radio hit “Float On” battled feedback to receive the biggest response, and Brock was unequivocally the sweat-soaked, vein-bulging ringleader, but it was ex-Smiths/current Mouse guitarist Johnny Marr who remained the main object of audience affection and reverence. Wholeheartedly embracing his backing-vocal duties, Marr supplied “Bukowski”’s shouted asides and clung fiercely to his mic while letting loose during a dancey, shimmery rendition of “The View.” After ending the main set with “Spitting Venom” and encoring with “Black Cadillac” and “Trailer Trash,” the reserved axeman offered a soft “thank you” and smiled shyly for the unprompted wave of applause directed squarely his way.
Other than 1996 single “Broke,” few surprises surfaced, movement and interaction were minimal, and the young crowd stayed subdued. And that’s the disadvantage of being a reliably great band like Modest Mouse: With nothing much left to prove, live shows end up infinitely solid, yet not overwhelmingly exciting.