Goats Goats Goats

So the concert last night was predictably awesome. The Variety is a cool venue (I'd never been before) with a fair selection of seats and floorspace. Plus they check ID's at the ticket window so you don't have to wait for everyone to be carded when they open the doors.*

The first opening act was called wasn't awful, but she was just on that upper cusp of mediocre that you felt bad for her. Vocally she was great. Very solid; reminiscent of Blue-era Joni. But most of her songs came out sounding like she started to write a good song and got bored after the first verse and just went with anything that stuck. And she talked too much. Openers aren't allowed to talk that much.** I looked up her stuff on myspace and it lacks the vocal richness she had in concert, which is really disappointing.

The second opening band*** was definitely more music-oriented and kind of amazing. Sometimes I'm not into loop petals, especially when you're just using them to show off, but if you can really rock a loop petal it becomes something awesome. This dude could totally rock a loop petal. Vocally they fit kind of between Andrew Bird and the Fleet Foxes. Musically they were just intense. He even sang through his violin once, which sounds kind of gimicky to say it like that, but it was really a fantastic effect.

And then we have the Mountain Goats. They played a good mix of new stuff and older stuff (including Song for Dennis Brown which is one of my favorites) and then the customary group singing of No Children, also a favorite. There's something about standing in a room full of people, grinning ear-to-ear singing, "I hope you die, I hope we all die" that is just kind of life affirming--like you know at that moment that you're exactly where you're supposed to be. Even if the girl behind you is so drunk that she cannot keep herself upright without holding on to the stage. And we don't really need to discuss how awesome The Mountain Goats are live because it's kind of inherent in the thought. But being on a stage that was firmly cemented into the ground was cool because John Darnielle has some pretty awesome footwork. Overall, I'm really glad I didn't talk myself out of going, even if it meant posting yesterday's entry late (it seemed really silly to come home from a concert and publish an entry about how I wasn't sure about going, but it was late and I was too tired to come up with something else).

And, for the record, LittleDog did just fine by herself at night. Plus she was extra happy to see me when I got back. :)





*The way venues handle age issues is, for me, a big deal. A good venue will settle things before doors open, or at least have a few lines open for good flow. The Neighborhood Theatre in Charlotte took tickets and gave out wristbands before the show so when doors opened people could just walk right in. Classy.

**And if you're going to say, "This song is an ancient Iranian poem, but I changed it so it rhymes," you should probably keep your mouth shut.

***I say band because they go by a band name, and there are two of them. But it's really just the one guy and then a support drummer.