Modest Mouse delivered a career-spanning show to a happy, sweaty Uptown Theater last night

Modest Mouse
Uptown Theater, Kansas City, MO
Sunday, July 13

Modest Mouse surely doesn’t ring as a new band, but it can be hard to believe that the act, despite Isaac Brock’s reputation for being a difficult guy to work with (deserved or not), has been in the game for 20 years. Somehow it has been a full seven years since the band’s last full-length release, We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank. Regardless of that fact, the band still easily sold out its show at the Uptown Theater last night and delivered a high-energy, crowd-pleasing set to a sweaty summer Kansas City audience.

Last night’s set spanned Modest Mouse’s entire career (including a surprising amount of material off of 2000’s The Moon & Antarctica) and hinted with some new material that maybe – one can hope, anyway – there may soon be a new album in the works.

It took a fair amount of maneuvering to work down towards the stage through the tightly-packed audience, which waited through a lengthy soundcheck for the band to begin. This is not to say that the soundcheck was unwarranted – there were so many instruments onstage, it was no surprise that it was quite a feat to get them all mic’ed, tuned and ready. There were two full drum kits and a dozen-plus guitars, along with violins, horns, banjo, organ, synthesizer and a number of small accent instruments. The large stage was a mess of carefully taped wires and meticulously-arranged pedals. 

When the show began, it was a surprise to see how large Modest Mouse’s touring band has become. Fluctuating from six to nine members depending on the song, the act has greatly fleshed itself out since the last time I was able to see them, at their semi-controversial appearance at City Market in 2007. The band has been touring with this setup for at least a handful of years, but it was a happy surprise for me, as I’ve avoided their shows since the City Market mess. That fateful 2007 concert more or less ended large concerts in the City Market space, as building tenants and owners complained about damage that the sound system had done to their structures. (The end of large concerts there was no real loss for local music listeners: The sound itself at that show was unforgivably poor, with the sound bouncing off of all of the hard surfaces, and sight lines weren’t great, either.) 

But on this outing – despite the occasional monitor hum and some feedback – the general experience of the show, performance and sound, was great. It took a few songs for Brock to really ramp up to his full-throttle, deep-throated growls and screams, but by the time the band got a few songs in to ‘Dramamine,’ Brock’s eyes were wide, and the often flinty frontman seemed somehow to be enjoying the performance, and forgiving the crowd for infractions (such as requests) that he is notorious for slamming down. He even joked with a chummy fan who wanted to hang out: “We can’t get to my house [from here]. But then what are we gonna do anyway?”

The backing band was truly impressive, with the cast rotating instruments at each song, guitars to organ, drums to melodica, violin to baritone horn. Brock’s vocals, shouting and singing, are inconstant and the type of delivery he provides, often spitting and shrieking, make it hard to deliver radio-perfect sounds (and it is best this way), but the instrumentation behind it all is impeccable and tight. During several of the new (or new-ish, unreleased songs), which feature far more dance-y beats than much of Modest Mouse’s other material, the band would swell to eight, sometimes nine members, fully utilizing the menu of instruments available to them onstage. Two drumkits, while not especially novel anymore, still pack an intense punch and the extra volume and drive works well with this material.

But despite all of that, ultimately, Modest Mouse’s shows are all about Brock, his wit and emotional delivery. The heavily male (and surprisingly young) audience often shouted along the words with Brock, channeling his wryness and anger. 

The clear audience highlights were clear based on reaction – “Dashboard” and “Float On,” garnered the biggest audience response. Other highlights included the short and sweet “Out of Gas” from 1997’s great The Lonesome Crowded West, which features one of my personal favorite Brock-isms, “Opinions were like kittens / I was giving them away,” as well as the heavy, heady “The Good Times are Killing Me.” 

Speculation about a new record will not cease until such a thing exists (according to Outkast’s Big Boi, the collaboration between he and Modest Mouse – first discussed in 2011 – is still happening). And if and when a new record of any sort happens, it will be on Brock’s unpredictable schedule.

In the meantime, the band has two decades of material to work with in its live shows. Despite even a 90-minute set that spanned all the way back to 1996’s This is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About, it felt like they barely scratched the surface of available material. Judging by the crowd reaction, the band’s audience will welcome the band back, new album or no, anytime. 

Setlist: 
Black Cadillacs
Invisible
Gravity Rides Everything
Dramamine
Pistol
Lampshades On Fire
Dashboard
This Devil’s Workday
Satin in a Coffin
Tiny Cities Made of Ashes
Sugar Boats
Shit In Your Cut
Float On
The World at Large
Out of Gas
The Good Times Are Killing Me
I Came as a Rat
____
Custom Concern
Dark Center of the Universe