The Mountain Goats & Barbara Morgenstern: U.S. West Coast, early to mid June

But Neumo's will do. oh will it. what a pairing. now i'll start imagining duets...

There's already a pre-Seattle show meetup/FAP tentatively planned at the Elysian around 7pm or so.. maybe earlier?.. at the Elysian Brewery on Friday, just before the show. (Hope you got tickets... I'm guessing this will sell out.. if not already.)

Jen, Kate, Jaq, Mr. Jaq and I are in. I think Jergins might be in as well, but not sure. And there are others who I think are in as well -- show or not -- Rickey? Morley? I'm probably missing somebody... (if so, speak up!)

this is going to be great.

Anyway, just for padding, say 6:45pm at the Elysian... show starts at 9pm.. and the Elysian is just three blocks east of Neumo's on the same side of the street, so it's really easy to go between the two.

If anyone gets there first, ask for a table for at least six or seven people, anticipating as much as ten, maybe. I will recognize all of the above there.

No hoodie!!!???

Anyway, who's all going to the LA show?

Damn is right. I gotta get on top of these things. A quick search of craiglist has two people begging for tix, no one giving them up.

Again I say, damn.

Barbara Morgenstern is an absolute do-not-miss, which is still a understatement! She pretty much nailed everything I'd want in seeing a live solo electronic "song"-ey musician.. UBERkarazma, a genuine sense of being REALLY excited to be there and perform, channeling that excitement in just showing off her keyboard playing craft and singing, having a sense of humor and using it to improvise the ends of songs thusly, introducing the songs before playing them (although I don't require this, when it's done as excitedly as Barbara did, it REALLY helps!), and -- of course -- dropping the bassy beats when you kinda don't expect it.

A small number of folks including myself, jergins, and others were very much just flailing about in bliss, another small number of folks didn't seem to care too much and walked to the bar, but the majority of the crowd did the very Seattle-esque We're Watching And Folding Our Hands Quietly In Seeming Disinterest But Actually Are Being Majorly Schooled On The Truth And Light That is Barbara Morgenstern thing. The applause in between songs contrasted strongly with the looking-bored crowd behavior mid-song, which in Seattle-ese means "we've never seen you before, and you are fucking awesome."

Barbara sold out of all her CDs tonight...

..for the entire tour. Not shitting you.

I think more BM merch will be coming REALLY soon as a result of this, so don't get bummed. But you should absolutely not miss Barbara's set, even if you means you have to buy her stuff at the record store. (I know, painful.)

Kimya Dawson opened. I think she's playing the entire tour... so, Ned, if you can find a ticket and make it up, you may very well make it in time to see Barbara's set, as she'd be playing second on the bill. But double-check.

The Mountain Goats. OK, I've seen them (and at times, him) well over a dozen times now since the early 90s. (Yes, I just dropped the OLD SKOOL 'CRED BOMB. Always have your helmets ready.)

Tonight was the best time I've seen them. Hands down.

And I'm not saying that in a "Oh, but the Mountain Goats are so great everytime they play, it ALWAYS seems like their last show was the best show they ever did" kinda way... I mean, they have an excellent batting average for shows, no fucking doubt. But this show was the best one.

The sequencing/choice of songs, the tightness, the broken string which resulted in John telling an EXCELLENT story about the T-shirt he was wearing tonight (and I'm not giving the story away), the range of songs from the brandest spankin'est newest to songs that are older than old, the dynamic shift from song to song -- aurally and/or lyrically, the consistency that paralled the shift, aurally and/or lyrically, the happiness in everyone involved on stage the entire night... The girl in the audience that represented Seattle at the start of the set by yelling "YEEEEEH! TO DA FRONT! OUT OF THE WAY, BITCHES! DO IT! FUCKIN' WAITIN' FOR TWO!" or something like that. And John interacting with this girl's lines throughout the set. ("Oh, I love you too. But you know, I get the sense things just... haven't been the same between us.")

To make things greater, The Vancouver Trio That Always Comes Down To Seattle To See The Mountain Goats, The Third Of Which Always Is Different were there! And the Goats played Vancouver this time. (But, hey, I mean, a fix for live bands is slightly more dangerous than a fix for oxygen... I'm a follower that way too.) It's become this tradition to see them and chat with them at the show.. well, for me, at least. I first discovered them at a Tractor Tavern show when they wore the T-shirts of the respective prospected band names of the Denton death metal bands spray painted on their white shirts. I got to walk them halfway down to their hostel. They are absolutely the coolest folks.

Anyway, jump on this tour and see them already, even if you have to whore yourself craigslist-style.. seriously.

don't tell me you don't have tix either?! I was making fun of myself cos you're the one that told me to get tix! two weeks ago!

As for tMG, I have always liked John live, but that was the best I have ever seen him play by a pretty huge margin. Great song selection, amazing energy, just a really electric set.

donut otm. oh, seattle.

is the oregon one likely to sell out? my friend was going to drive down and buy tickets on the door and ruh roh :(

According to TicketsWest, tonight's show is indeed sold out. :(