‘Good News for People Who Like Bad News’: Dear Modest Mouse, I’ve heard better.

The Kalamazoo show “Missed the Boat” and it shouldn’t be blamed on “The Dance Hall.” Sound issues made songs unrecognizable, some fans left early and one reviewer wished he’d run “Out of Gas.”

 

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As one fan was overheard saying on the way out: “I know all of those songs; I just couldn’t understand any of them.”

This wasn’t on Wings Stadium. We’ll talk about the icy floor later. No, Umphrey’s McGee had the sound dialed in this past February, and like Umphrey’s, and most all professional touring acts, the equipment — from the soundboard to the speaker stacks — I’m most certain was brought in by the band.

Now, before we get any further, let me be clear, I am a fan of Modest Mouse’s music and was really looking forward to this show. And when I caught the band last back in 2004, I could understand every word, sang along, and danced the entire night. It was an incredible and still memorable show for me.

I don’t know what that was Tuesday night.

I sat in vantage points all over the arena in Kalamazoo, from the top row center to front, middle and high on both sides. I went down to the floor, stood right, left, middle, center, back. One fan told me that one could “hear the lyrics from the floor up toward the front” but that it “was a bit echoed” everywhere else they went.

“A bit echoed” was an understatement.

THIS ONE MISSED THE BOAT: COULDN’T EVEN MAKE OUT THE BANTER

I’ve been to north of 250 shows in the last three years alone, across multiple genres in venues all sizes, not counting festivals, and I don’t recall a single concert in the past decade-plus where I have had so much difficulty understanding a single word.

I couldn’t even make out the between-song banter from the stands. This was bad.

It was bad enough, that if I wasn’t being paid to be there and needed to stay to write about it, I would have left after 20 minutes, and I don’t leave shows early, nor pay 50 cents a minute for music, no matter how good it is.

At about the 45-minute mark, I headed to the concourse to see if the lyrics were more audible there. I thought, maybe the problem was just on the decibel level inside the bowl and the echoes caused by the arena not being very full.

Not only did I still have trouble making anything out that Isaac Brock sang, I saw quite a few handfuls of people leaving. Many had LPs in their hands. I’m assuming those folks: a) bought them before the show began or b) purchased them because they wanted to understand the lyrics on one of the records they weren’t as familiar with because they couldn’t hear them last night.

Perspective: These people waited 50 minutes for the band to come on after Termination Dust’s opening set — even though MM’s gear was set up on stage throughout the entirety of the Anchorage band’s set — and they still left after 45 minutes.

What they can feel good about today is the knowledge that the main set of the show lasted only 14 minutes longer, and after a 10-minute wait with some stormy rain noise, the band came out and played a relatively underwhelming multi-song encore with no discernible improvements.

SOME DID CHEER, DANCE VIGOROUSLY

And while those who departed early, and many others, including me, left disappointed, there were quite a few who did seem to enjoy the show.

Quite a few people cheered. Many loudly. Quite a few people danced. Many vigorously. In fact, the cheers got extremely loud toward the end of the 10-minute break between the set and the encore.

I’m just wondering what in the living hell got them so excited.

Was it the $9 beers? Or the fact that they knew the songs so well, they could sing to themselves and dance to the vibrations of the music? Or maybe they just wanted to hear a couple more songs and were ready to go home?

A LYRICALLY DRIVEN, VERY GOOD BAND

Modest Mouse, for those that know them, and I do encourage you to listen to their albums, is a band known for being lyrically driven and for writing well-crafted songs. And while I get that having three drummers on stage may be at the root cause of cranking up the dB’s, this is not a rookie band or crew, so I just don’t get why the sound was not adjusted for the venue.

When it comes to louder bands, I’ve seen the likes of Metallica, The Melvins, Green Day, Nirvana, Tool, Nine Inch Nails, Rise Against, Ministry and Rage Against the Machine, and never had an issue making out a word. And when it comes to loud rock ‘n’ roll, these guys aren’t those guys. They are an indie band with a poppy, post-grunge feel.

THE GOOD: The light show definitely did not suck. When Brock strapped on his banjo and went into “Bukowski” — one of my favorite MM songs — it was one of the few times I could understand mostly what was being sung. Also, “Satin in a Coffin” is still ringing in my head this morning and I can understand all the words when it plays through my brain this time around.

MY ONLY OTHER COMPLAINT: The ice underneath the floor boards presented some serious condensation issues and one could skate across the floor in their shoes. I didn’t see anyone fall, so that’s a good thing. But I’ve seen a few shows at Wings and other ice rinks and never experienced that before.

SET LIST: I was able to snap a pic of the set list last night and there were some gems on there. The show opened with “Tortoise and the Tourist” and “The View” both of which I could recognize the music, and I could make out some words on the latter. Also, not mentioned, but played was: “Satellite Skin,” “Lampshades on Fire,” “Poison the Well,” “Trailer Trash,” “King Rat,” “Custom Concern,” “Tiny Cities,” “Dashboard,” “Out of Gas,” and “A Different City.” Of the encore songs, I could make out “Doin’ The Cockroach.”

PHOTO GALLERY: Modest Mouse, Termination Dust at Wings Stadium (Kalamazoo)
Photos by Derek Ketchum

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