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Concert Report: The Mountain Goats, John Vanderslice

The Mountain Goats are one of my favorite bands. Bottom of the Hill is one of my favorite places to see a show. So imagine how lucky I felt to go with my favorite girl, introducing her to the excitement that is a Mountain Goats show! and my favorite show-going friend met us there, although he has seen them before.

We missed the first two bands and arrived in the middle of John Vanderslice's set. It sounded better than last time I saw him - the drummer was just totally on today. Was that the same drummer as last time? They wisely had his set-up at the front of the stage so everyone could see him rocking out. I also realized I have all of John's CDs, so I knew every song he played. The version of "Do You Remember" was awesome. As they were leaving the stage they said they'd be back to play more with the Mountain Goats. What? That sounded potentially cool, but not the typical MG sound.

But then it was time for the Mountain Goats! And John started the set as usual, with a guitar and a chair and a "Hi! We're the Mountain Goats." He played some good stuff, and the crowd was very into it, as always. Then it came time for a bass player to join him, someone from Discothi-q. It definitely made the sound fuller, but they played a few slower songs which aren't my favorites. But they picked it up a little (the Old Granddad had kicked in...) and played a lot of stuff from the more recent CDs. He did a bit of "I wonder where our love has gone" acapella while his guitar got retuned, although it felt a little rushed this time. And he refused to play "Cubs in Five" despite lots of people hoping for it. Oh well. He did a really nice version of "Source Decay", complete with a nice but sad intro story.

John Vanderslice and his drummer (forgot the name...) came up, and they really rocked out, you couldn't really hear John's guitar but he screamed over the top of everything and the crowd actually got moving a little. They pretended it was the last song, but we knew it wasn't. They eventually came back and played "The Best Ever Death Metal Band In Denton" which was awesome. John's vocals were clear even though the band was rocking, and the whole crowd joined in the chorus. Lots of fun! I was convinced, the Mountain Goats as a real band could be a good thing.

They finished things out with just John and the bassist, though, doing "The Monkey Song", "Going to Georgia", and "The Sign". (OK, I'm not sure those were really the final three except for The Sign, since I am never good at remembering set lists.)

Mountain Goats shows always seem to short, and this was no exception. I was glad I got to share it with someone special, though, who finally understood why I put all those MG songs on the CDs I make for her.