So last week I went to catch one of my old favourites Modest Mouse at The Prince Bandroom. On account of a lucky favour, I got to take my close friend to the show for free and even got to watch from the V.I.P bar. OK, enough about my lucky break and more on the show.
The last time I saw MM was in 2008 when the lads took to the V Festival stages one sunny Sydney afternoon. I remember being really excited to see them but as the band started up, the vocals never seemed to appear. All I heard were faint scratches of Isaac Brock's voice and even though I was listening as hard as I could, I couldn't audibly attend to the trademark raspy vocals.
For years I blamed this on a shitty PA and not the band even though I knew these vocals can sometimes come up rough live. So when I got the chance to see Modest Mouse in a smaller, more intimate setting I was willing and ready for round two.
The room was packed and in my excitement leading up I'd been traipsing setlistfm.com for ideas of what to expect this time. Modest Mouse only have a few staple songs they like to play and the rest is usually unpredictable. When the band appeared on stage the crowd erupted to the sound of 'Spitting Venom'. The song sounded great but when the set moved into my personal favourite 'The View', it was happening again. I couldn't hear a word. I know every lyric to that song but at no point during the verses could I even imagine where Brock was up to. My friend and I just looked at one another, puzzled.
The set dropped back into a mixture of less popular tunes and you could sense the crowd getting restless between the bands drunk and aggressive banter. At one point there was talk about kids with cancer and crowds were confused until hit with the ever celebrated 'Float On.' No complaints here, I could hear perfectly fine and morale was spiking once more.
Everything seemed to be going well again and my friend who works at Prince mentioned they only put one bottle of Jack in the rider this week after last weeks show. Apparently the band were so drunk at the previous gig, it was decided that for the sake of the patrons, the alcohol would be cut down this time around. Around this point in conversation, I started to hear the beginnings of 'Cowboy Dan.' The audience had been calling out song requests all night at which Brock would shout back some awkward refusal. As if he'd started to please with this crowd favourite, Brock launched into a tirade at audience members stating that if they wanted to hear it done well they should listen to the album. Warning us not to expect the best was a prolonged show and the mood was once again shifting, this was growing tiresome. People, me included started to worry the rant would chase away the song and maybe we'd miss out. Eventually Modest Mouse succumbed to our wishes and reluctantly played what we wanted to hear, a bitter sweet result.
On a good note, Modest Mouse did play a two hour set which is pretty generous and it was enjoyable to see them. My comments just stem from a dislike of the band vs fan situation. We're the reason you are where you are, we're the reason your shows sold out and your records sell well, why take it out on us? If you're tired of touring go start a record store in San Francisco and fade into obscurity, don't get shitfaced and take it out on a crowd of adoring fans. We love attitude and we know what we're in for with bands like this but get a grip! It was like Brock was channeling Anton Newcombe from the Dig! days.
Would I see Modest Mouse again? The answer is yes. Much like an abusive relationship, I will probably always go back to these gigs because I love the records so much and there's hope it'll get better.
Have you ever experienced a situation likes this at a show?
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