The National, Modest Mouse pre-R.E.M.
Posted on June 5th, 2008 – 9:08 PMBy Chris Riemenschneider
It’s usually a little bittersweet seeing some of your favorite bands open for bigger acts in an arena (anybody catch the Replacements before Tom Petty back in ‘89?), and that was definitely the case with the National. “Boxer” was one of the best albums of last year, but a lot of its majesty got lost in the Xcel Center, and the band seemed a little lost itself. As frontman Matt Berninger wryly noted
to the sparse crowd who got their early enough (7 p.m.), “This is our first arena show… it’s awesome.”
Still, their more uptempo songs hit their mark, including “Mistaken for Strangers” and the howling closer “Mr. November.” I also thought “Apartment Story” was cleverly reworked with layered harmonies and stop/go rhythms. Here’s the entire set list:
Start a War / Brainy / Baby We’ll Be Fine / Slow Show / Mistaken for Strangers / Squalor Victoria / Racing Like a Pro / Apartment Story / Fake Empire / Mr. November
Modest Mouse, on the other hand, came out with full guns a-blazing. In fact, their entire 55-minute set was pretty much all roar and snarl. The venomous approach actually got a little old and wearing until they finally mellowed a bit for “The Good Times Are Killing Me,” which helped build up a big, fiesty and really fantastic finish with “The View.”
Frontman Isaac Brock said a few quirky bits between songs but was mostly his usual uncharismatic self. I think the fact that the guy on guitar used to play in the Smiths (Johnny Marr) was lost on all the old R.E.M. fans who were also presumably Smiths fans at one time, but that’s actually kind of cool if you think about it. Not cool: Skipping your big hit (”Float On”) when you’re an opening band, since it’s their only song that half the crowd knew. I didn’t get all of the MM setlist, but here’s most of what they played in order:
We’ve Got Everything / Black Cadillacs / Satin in Coffin / Dashboard / ?? / Truckers Atlas / Fire It Up / ?? / Good Times Are Killing Me / King Rat / The View
6 Responses to "The National, Modest Mouse pre-R.E.M."
I was at the soundcheck, and I saw them do You Are My Everything twice.
Did they play it at the show? I’m dying to know.
i thought the National sounded just fine all things considered and handled the large room quite well (especially for their first arena show). then again i was also standing 4th row for their set, so that certainly helped.
their set was easily the highlight of the night for me
MM were better than usual, but the setlist did lack (not because they skipped Float On), but because it was almost strictly from their last 2 albums, which aren’t even remotely near their best, especially last years album.
MM tunes lef out of C.R.’s playlist:
first ?? = wild pack of family dogs
second ?? = paper thin walls
yeah, venemous as Isaac et. al. is all about, but playlist did lack the rich texture of sounds i love this band for.
Wow, Chris, I had the completely opposite thoughts about the openers. I felt the National really stepped up to the challenge of playing a nearly empty arena and filled that place with their sound, earnestness, and energy, while Modest Mouse was just going through the motions of a set has become all too familiar over their recent tours. Even ‘Truckers Atlas’ was a truncated mess, and I love that song. It just seemed like a real by-the-numbers performance, with little to no energy conveyed to the audience. I agree with Kyle, being close like that (I was 6th row) really helped for The National’s performance-it made it seem like less of an arena show, and they sounded clear and confident, and hopefully got a lot of new fans from the night. MM in my opinion, played like they didn’t want to (or weren’t ready to) play an arena, and their odd setlist didn’t help either-playing ‘Wild Pack Of Family Dogs’ over ‘Float On (which was what perhaps half of the audience knew them for) or even ‘Ocean Breathes Salty’ was an odd choice. I did like to see Johnny play organ (or keyboard, whatever that was) for ‘The Good Times Are Killing Me.’ That was sweet.
My review of the show, with blurry pics and vids is here
wordstosell.vox.com
Check it out if you are interested. Cheers.
I agree with Erik. I came to see Modest Mouse and left wondering if I’ll ever want to see them play again. This “period” they’re in reminds me a lot of how great bands got lost in the muddled and drugged 80s. Isaac’s supposedly quick heavy drugs, but maybe he needs to pop a few pills and cut the dead weight (the extra three members of the band). That had to be - bar none - the band’s lowpoint. A stale, tired set barely got my knee tapping (Paper-thin Walls was the tapping). Johnny Marr struck me as “prince-like” note the lower-case p. He prances and skips around, strumming every now and then, seemingly waiting to collect his paycheck. For me - a major fan - the jig is up, and the joke (I hope) will be over soon. It’s completely laughable.
The National, however, blew me away. I did not dig their stuff before but - Wow. What a closing triumvirate of songs.
