Gig Review - Mark Butler sees MM at the Carling Academy, Liverpool
Sunday 2nd September 2007
There are few bands as eccentric or eclectic as Modest Mouse, and their pulsating set at the academy showed off their quirky energy and wide-ranging musical influences at their very best.
Frontman Isaac Brock and Brit guitar-hero Johnny Marr flanked the stage with awesome presence, backed by two multi-instrumentalists packing everything from accordions to electric cello, and a brace of drummers dressed in Dennis-the-Menace black and red stripes.
Belting out material largely made-up of tracks from their two most recent albums, they got things going with Bury Me With It and were soon showing off their newer, more pop-laden sound with Fire It Up and Dashboard, which got people bouncing up and down as if their lives depended on it.
A mixed blessing
The varied nature of the band’s material is a mixed blessing. Those who appreciate variety will love how soft-rock gems like Missed the Boat sat alongside such heavy madness as a hair-raising rendition of Tiny Cities Made of Ashes, and the hillbilly ranting of banjo-laced Bukowski. But some will no doubt find such a mix a little jarring.
It’s also fair to say that there was a bit too much going on in a couple of tracks, with The View suffering from an overdose of keyboard effects in a cluttered chorus.
However, for the most part it was near-perfect, and pretty much everyone at the academy couldn’t get enough of it. By the time the band had dazzled everyone with the terrific Float On, and mustered an encore including post-rock anthem Little Motel and epic sound-off Spitting Venom, there were wide grins and satisfied faces all round.
This gig was further proof that the musical marriage between Marr and Brock may be the most exciting thing for rock music in a long, long time. The material recorded since the ex-Smiths axe-man joined sounds terrific, with his smooth jangling guitar soaring over the usual funky, off-beat rhythms, but the older tracks have also been given a new lease of life in the live scene.
They were always cracking anyway – but now they’re injected with Marr’s steady hand they’re downright fantastic.
Rating: 4/5 Modest Mouse are great on record, and even better live. Go see them when you get the chance.