For the second time in a week, oxygen was at a premium at the Rosemount Hotel as The Mountain Goats’ sellout crowd squeezed through the doors and packed every last inch of floor space.
A few days earlier, a similar crowd had turned up to see American indie-pop heroes Spoon — the punters lucky enough to witness one of the gigs of the year. Unfortunately, those to witness both shows were to be disappointed by the goats for several reasons.

Opening duo Electric Fall played to the particularly eager punters and didn’t disappoint. Featuring Adam Said Galore frontman Andrew Ryan, the band strip down Adam Said Galore’s rock songs and reshape them into more intricate offerings, thanks largely to Ryan’s partner-in-crime, Schvendes cellist Tristan Parr.

As the room begins to get uncomfortably full, New Rules for Boats take to the stage and come close to stealing the show. Performing tonight as a five-piece, the band have an edge that the two-piece Mountain Goats struggle to match. Undoubtedly a much-improved band, the band’s set draws heavily from debut EP All At Sea, and concludes with current Triple J staple You’re Out.

The band’s decision to enlist the services of multi-instrumentalist Michael Rogers is a curious one. Sporting a dodgy/cool (delete where applicable) sailor’s hat, the band’s former music teacher adds an extra dimension to the band — as well as an extra 40-odd years to the band’s combined age. Rogers’ presence definitely has a positive impact during the opening part of the set but as the performance continues, his contributions often overpower the efforts of the band’s brother-sister vocal duo Sean and Miranda Pollard.

While New Rules for Boats overdid it tonight, The Mountain Goats come dangerously close to underdoing it. Accompanied by a single bass guitar, (yes, bass guitar) singer and songwriter John Darnielle tries his best to recreate his recorded efforts on stage, but it’s just not the same.

Perhaps it would have been more effective had Darnielle performed this show solo — after all, he is the Mountain Goats.
At this stage, the crowd is packed in like sardines and some people are preferring to listen from outside, where oygen is available in ample quantities.

But those in the beer garden miss out on the visual hilarities of tonight’s show. Though there isn’t a great deal to look at and the duo’s stage presence is far from captivating, Darnielle’s comical facial expressions make the show worthwhile.

Dance Music is a highlight, as is recent hit This Year, but more amusing are Darnielle’s anecdotal introductions. His wit is probably best demonstrated in his songwriting, but he connects well with the crowd and keeps everything down-to-earth.

When the Goats introduce encore track The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton (“This is the first time we’ve played this song on the tour”) the crowd forgets we didn’t get Palmcorder Yajna. “Hail Satan! Hail Satan!” everyone chants along. Sure, the performance could have been a lot slicker, but when everyone enjoys the show how can you complain?