Following the release of their late 2023 record “Jenny from Thebes,” The Mountain Goats perform the fifth show of their national tour “Sworn to the Effort.”
The Mountain Goats brought a colorful performance to The Blue Note, as MU students and other concertgoers alike gathered to watch and sing along.
“This is my first concert as [an MU] student], but I’ve gotten the impression there’s a lot of music around here,” Julia Davis said. “I’ve always loved going to concerts and I love small standing-room venues where you meet all different types of people.”
The Mountain Goats are an American indie folk band originating from Claremont, California. Formed by John Darnielle, the band has been releasing music since their debut album in 1994, “Zopilote Machine.” Since then, the band has released 25 studio albums with their most recent being their 2023 release titled “Jenny from Thebes.”
Before The Mountain Goats took the stage, two guests performed sets to kick off the night. First was indie solo artist Alicia Bognanno, known by her alias “Bully.” Bully’s grunge-inspired vocals offered a great introduction to her discography and style for newcomers. Second was alternative rock artist Craig Finn, whose storytelling provided engaging songs and aspects of comedy.
Darnielle and The Mountain Goats’ instrumentalist Matt Douglas kicked off their set with “Hair Match,” off of their 2015 record “Beat the Champ.” Throughout their set, Darnielle and Douglas put unique spins on their records by using instrumentation not common in the band’s studio albums. With Darnielle performing vocals and playing the acoustic guitar, Douglas played the electric guitar, saxophone and piano throughout the set. Darnielle’s voice has always been unique, but certain inflections emphasized his emotions more intensely than studio recordings. Maintaining certain aspects of studio instrumentals and adding different instrumentation gave great perspective to how their vocals and instruments work in tandem.
The chemistry between Darnielle and Douglas was on display with banter in between songs. Having Douglas do live instrumentation gave a fascinating glimpse into The Mountain Goats’ studio instrumentation and how their records transfer to a live setting.
Compared to the cleaner studio production, the live performance added new elements like pitch shifts and different instrumentals while maintaining the structure of each song. Several songs introduced unique instrumental breaks like Douglas’s recurring saxophone solos which added a unique spin to certain songs.
Darnielle performed a variety of songs spanning The Mountain Goats’ discography. Among these songs include “Oceanographer’s Choice,” off of their 2002 record “Tallahassee,” an emotionally dense and dark piece with a more somber and simple guitar backing. “1 Samuel 15:23” from their 2009 record “The Life of the World to Come” is similarly slow and quiet but had many audience members swaying to the live performance. “Jenny III,” off of their 2023 record “Jenny from Thebes,” is far more energetic and was the only song off the record to be performed. Following the 15 songs they performed, Darnielle and Douglas came back out to do a five song encore following the stomping and cheering of the crowd.
Many people love The Mountain Goats not just for John Darnielle’s vocals and storytelling ability but for the diversity of subject matter that he can incorporate in each of his releases.
“I got into them because they have an album about professional wrestling, which I’m a fan of, and then from there I found an album about verses of the Bible and songs inspired by that,” MU student Ryan Cohen said. “It’s just sort of a jumping off point from there.”
In the most energy-packed portion of the show, The Mountain Goats performed their most popular song, “No Children,” off of “Tallahassee.” Like the album the song is part of, “No Children” follows a toxic couple who love to hate and hate to love each other. With its dark nihilism tinged with comedy, “No Children” has resonated with many people who may not have otherwise been aware of the band before.
“I’m actually new to their music, I’ve only heard their most famous song ‘No Children,’” Davis said. “I love that song.”
Darnielle’s storytelling has always been exceptional and was brought to life thoroughly in a concert setting. Tuesday’s performance at The Blue Note will certainly give hundreds of audience members an exciting night to remember.
Edited by Alex Goldstein | agoldstein@themaneater.com
Copy edited by Katie Hoffman and Sterling Sewell | ssewell@themaneater.com
Edited by Scout Hudson | shudson@themaneater.com
