The Mountain Goats Win Over Chicago Fanboys and Fangirls With Ease
He is the only guitarist who wields an acoustic like it’s an axe. And that axe delivered a drop-dead ravishing performance Saturday night at the Vic Theatre in Chicago.
The genius behind the Mountain Goats – John Darnielle – is also the only indie rocker who would ever introduce a tune by saying “This is a song about a psychiatric hospital” or “This is a song about when I was a teenage drunk.” And then burst into a track that isn’t slit-your-wrists depressing at all. It sounds uplifting.
John Darnielle is like an indie-rock novelist. His tunes are like chapters – each one telling the tale of some dysfunctional relationship, twisted love story or disheveled vagrant. But the music doesn’t sound anything like the lyrics. For the most part, the Mountain Goats’ music sounds rhapsodical and happy.
In fact, Darnielle is so prolific, he couldn’t accommodate a request to play “Fault Lines” because he didn’t know it. I don’t blame him.
The Mountain Goats have more than 250 recorded songs to their name, releasing 13 albums and 4 EPs. And this is just the music that’s seen the light of day. He doesn’t have a Greatest Hits. So I created one on Spotify…
Darnielle used to record on a boombox and he had a huge box of audio cassettes loaded with songs that probably no one has ever heard. He showed me them. See my interview from 2000. Any of these 254 songs could be anyone’s favorite. But it didn’t matter what he played, the feeling shone through on each and every song.
This was the first time the band featured a horn section – notably for the upbeat new single “Cry for Judas” from the recently released “Transcendental Youth.” Here’s the official video.
There were tender moments too, like “Shadow Song” where it was John solo on stage. The room was placid. You could hear the piercing silence whenever the song paused. No talking whatsoever.
The whole shabang was topped off with the first encore of “This Year” Lyrics: “I am gonna make it through this year if it kills me.” Sounds kind of gloomy, but this has become a mantra for me as of late.
A hint of somber optimism that describes the bipolar way of the Mountain Goats.
If you’d like to subscribe to this Mountain Goats Greatest Hits playlist I created, go to Spotify and search “The ConorTV Playlist Vol. 4.”
And one more goodie, check out the awesome music video for “This Year” – the encore track from last night.
The tour continues throughout the South and West Coast through Dec. 17. Tour dates here.
