Tuesday, June 21, 2005

Modest Mouse @ Central Park Summerstage

A treat for the readers: two reviews of two different Modest Mouse concerts in the span of a week! Haha, anyway, I'd been wanting to see Modest Mouse for a long time and I was super excited to have the chance this summer. And it definitely exceeded my expectations, which were pretty high to begin to with.

First off, the opener was Camper Van Beethoven, which is a band and not just one person, and which I'd never heard of before, but I was pleasantly surprised. I guess you can describe them as sort of a country-rock-pop, but a lot of their sounds seemed very ethnically diverse. At any rate, their music was really happy.

And then Modest Mouse came on. My friends, who had seen them live before, informed me that they sounded a lot better this time. I wouldn't know, but they sounded really good. Possibly even better than some of their recorded versions. Like Mira mentioned, the balance between vocals and instruments was spot-on, and they had a lot of energy without being too drunk or crazy (which I've heard that they sometimes are). They played most of their new album, with some older songs sprinkled in between (I'm glad they played "Never Ending Math Equation"!), although my friends and I probably wanted to hear more older stuff. But overall, one of the most musically satisfying concerts I've ever been to.

I have to mention though, that in terms of personal comfort, this was possibly the best show I've ever been to. The venue was a lot smaller than I thought it was going to be, but it wasn't crowded. Because it was outdoors and it was a cool night, air and breathing and heat weren't an issue, and people weren't being pushy so there was plenty of room to move. The overall sound level wasn't so high that I felt like my eardrums were being blown out. The stage was just elevated enough that I could see some of what was going on on stage even though we weren't in the extreme front (which is a good thing). And the crowd was more of a mix of ages (despite a few strange individuals), unlike most of the other shows I've been to which were all overrun with high school and college kids, and most of the people seemed really informed and excited about the music. I hate it when there are a lot of people at shows who just stand around looking bored.

Modest Mouse rules! I'd definitely see them again...assuming their future albums are just as good, which I hope they are!

Click here for some blurry and not-so-close-up pictures.

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