Modest Mouse

Much to my surprise, the band that appeared at Red Rocks last night was almost unrecognizable from the band I’ve explained above. Taking the stage in broad daylight, to a half empty amphitheater, the two original members (Brock and Green) were joined by six other musicians to deliver a powerful, loud-as-fuck rendition of “Dramamine”. Unfortunately, it would be the only selection from the 90’s, but it was enough to cause a flood of concert-goers to storm the gates and fill the remaining seats. It’s a shame so many people weren’t aware of the early start time (or Modest Mouse’s controversial position in the line-up), but Brock and his new seven-piece band were rocking a full house by the time “Be Brave” segued into “Ocean Breathes Salty”.

Shedding his denim jacket and long-sleeved button-down in favor of the t-shirt below, Isaac Brock’s intensity could be read in his clinched eyelids and quirky facial tics, as Jeremiah Green and Davey Brozowski teamed up on dual drum kits to shake the place with thunderous percussion during “What People Are Made Of”. After a good run of mostly cerebral selections, “Lampshades on Fire” was a welcome jovial moment that convinced me I needed to spend more time with an album I’d all but ignored.

Red Rocks can be a fickle bitch when it comes to weather, so nothing compares to the experience of being there, under a perfectly clear sky, on a warm summer evening. A quick glance up from our position just behind the sound stage revealed thousands of men and women dancing all the way to the horizon. Performing before the sun has a chance to set is never ideal, but if it’s unavoidable, there is no better place to do it than Red Rocks. The view from the stage is spectacular. And that spectacle could be seen in the eyes of the merry band of musicians as they swapped out conventional and unconventional instruments throughout the show.

There was so much going on that sometimes is was hard to keep track of who was playing what. Traditional rock ‘n’ roll tools were augmented with strings and keys and upright bass and sheet metal, not to mention the plethora of guitars Brock cycled through. As the night began to darken around us, a lit joint hung from Jim Fairchild’s mouth during the slightly sinister “Shit in Your Cut”; and then the Melodica came out for “Bukowski”, before a guy and girl (who I don’t think were actually in the band) introduced a pair horns during the full-on jamboree that was “This Devil’s Workplace”. Lisa Molinaro might have been the most impressive multi-instrumentalist up there though. As the night progressed, she demonstrated expertise on the viola, keyboard, and even the banjo (on “Dashboard”), while also lending her voice to backup vocals when needed.

http://ilistensoyoudonthaveto.com/2016/06/30/modest-mouse-brand-new-red-rocks-06-29-16/

What can't be said about a band that never fails to entertain? With a gentle yet tough sound, Modest Mouse once again brings their specific brand of music to the spotlight. And once again, it was superb to listen to.
Modest Mouse's unique brand of experimental rock is always intriguing. It's a certain style incorporating a clever blend of odd occasional instruments you won't see too often in typical rock bands. But that's the thing, Modest Mouse is far from being your average rock band. You'll hear them play violins, trumpets, hell even a banjo at times. But of course, this simply adds to the uniqueness of their sound.
Ultimately, Modest Mouse is no stranger to awesome songs to rock to, and spectacular ballads to sway to. Things can get as intense as the energizing "Satin in a Coffin", upbeat and fun as "Dashboard", or even calm and provocative as "The World at Large".
Even with their spectacular set list of amazing songs, the band truly sends it home with their frontman Isaac Brock. A genuine person, Brock finds ways to make the band's music feel as real as it can possibly be.
Though it's been 5 years since Modest Mouse has released any new material, seeing them live is more than enough to find out their past albums (with conveniently long titles) still hold strong and true to entertain. But fear not! For a band this good is always working hard to produce new things, and with Modest Mouse, one will learn waiting is common, but oh so worth it. Modest Mouse, how I love you.

Modest Mouse have been touring and performing as a band for over twenty years and their own brand of indie rock continues to delight fans as they appear as popular now as ever. Despite not receiving commercial success from their first few full lengths, when tracks picked from the early days get aired the crowd react incredibly positively.

Their 2007 LP 'We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank' reached #1 in the States so of course a large amount of this material gains best reaction from the audience. Huge singalong moments appear during 'Dashboard' and 'Fire It Up' and although these are quite polished pieces of indie on the record they are incredibly raw when performed live.

The indie rock sound becomes almost garage-like as the instrumental aspect of the live gigs feels more like a jam session than a polished performance. This is endearing though as no matter how big of a venue, the whole show feels incredibly personal and a fantastic showcase of the band's large discography.

I remember hearing about Modest Mouse back in the early 2000s, so I was surprised to see them come to my town and play a sold-out show at a local concert hall. Their live sound is a lot more raw and intense than their singles, such as Float On, which I came to love them for. Instead, they have many songs where they sound more like a garage band than a polished indie force - but that's a good thing! I was impressed by the experimentation the guitarists tried in almost every song.
Even though some of it was very noisy, the majority of the songs were all based on a powerful beat and melody so nothing was really lost. I was actually really appreciative of their live skills, especially how they changed up parts of The Good Times Are Killing Me for a live performance.
The crowd was very respectful during their less-intense songs, especially when the entire band was performing together to make a really awesome folk sound.

Modest Mouse was the supporting act for "Brand New" at the Greek Theater in Berkeley. That was surprising but worked out when we were able to leave after the 2nd Brand New "song" of shouting and headbanging. Punk? Not what I recalled from the Ramones, Clash and The Jam.

Anyway, MM was limited to about 45 min. and played with energy and enjoyment - http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/modest-mouse/2016/greek-theatre-berkeley-ca-6bff5e42.html

The voice audio was muffled and supressed in volume, awful, rendering comments from the band incomprehensible and the poignant vocal counterpoints lost. I'll look for a better context next time...

Modest Mouse is an incredible band. They are proof that amazing musicians still exist! But this was a Tuesday night show and we expected them to headline. We received a last-minute notice that was unclear and half-suggested that MM might go on first. We missed the first 45 minutes of their performance. And as well as the band played, they didn't seem to want to be there. Maybe that's because the sound was awful - something was wrong with Isaac's mic the whole time. Something was off. I can't wait to see them again but next time, I hope it will be at a different location. Oh, and we didn't even wait for Brand New to play.

I saw Modest Mouse in Santa Barbara on 5/19/18 and I was very disappointed with their performance and felt ripped off. My largest complaint is they didn't play Float On. I mean, you better have a lot of hits to skip your one-hit-wonder. I like some of their other songs but Float On is by far their best. My second complaint is the band sounds terrible live, they sounded out of sync, out of tune, and were just blasting us with ear-cringing noise. I have since seen Brandi Carlile and Norah Jones at the same venue and the acoustics were great, so Mosest Mouse just isn't talented enough to see live. Save your money

We were told by the venue "The Greek Theater" that "there will not be an opening band" and that "Modest Mouse" will start at 7:00 promptly. Well, actually Modest Mouse was the opener for a crappy band called "Brand New". Modest Mouse only played a short set and the last thing the lead singer said was "my throats dry" and they quit, never to return not even for an encore. Sound was off terribly. I spent a lot of money and drove a long ways to be disappointed in this terrible concert, and believe me, I've seen a lot of them. And the venue lied, why even send me an email with that kind of info? Get it together.

Modest Mouse put on a good show. As far as stage presence goes, most of the band were just kind of standing in their spot focusing on the instruments. Only the lead singer really put on a "performance" and he was pretty over the top sometimes.

The band could have sounded a lot better if they had just turned the volume down maybe 10-20 decibels. It's not the band's fault, the venue is smaller in size and I've been to other shows there, so I know it has a history of lousy sound quality, but it was seriously loud for such a small building.

Definitely go see them!

Went to both Detroit shows and they couldn't have been more different. First show we stood one riser up main floor. The band was great. They didn't play as long as we had hoped. Only one short encore. Thursday show we were right at the stage in front of Isaac. Totally different crowd and the band fed off that amazing energy.They knocked it out outta the park! Fantastic night and two encores and just a fantastic show. So glad we went to both. Isaac's sweet sense of humour and cheeky rhetoric made me love him even more.