Modest Mouse’s first ever Australian tour in their decade-old history hit Brisbane the day after their Falls Festival headline. Hundreds of fans lined along the street aside the Tivoli in the hours before the concert began.
The Tivoli is a beautiful venue. The mezzanine level filled out within minutes of the door opening and the rest of the hall followed suit.
Listed as ‘with special guests’ on the tickets, support slot Operator Please were a pleasant surprise. The mostly female, all teenage Gold Coast smash indie sensation wasted no time at all on stage, bursting into their high-energy, quirky rock songs like seasoned pros. This band is nothing short of amazing. Their vibrant stage antics and flair for unconventional songwriting was more than a match for any of the cliched hipster bands expected for a Modest Mouse opening slot. For a few songs, members of Modest Mouse themselves could be seen side stage, visibly impressed – energy like this is a hard act to follow. The band’s set touched on upcoming releases but mostly drew from their current 2 EP’s. The set highlight were the virtuoso rapid-fire violin solos, especially in closing song 6-8 – and how many rock bands have violin solos? Somehow lady violinist Taylor grabs far more cool than kitsch. Operator Please finished by winning a tough crowd, and good on them.
Modest Mouse took to the stage, accompanied by much-fanfared The Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr. To cut it short, Modest Mouse’s performance was epic. Isaac Brock’s vocals are just as impassioned as in his records and watching him throw his lungs into every note and howl was surreal. His guitar was mixed considerably louder than the rest of the band, which was jarring at first but very effective in later songs. Its hard to tell whether Marr lent any more than a name and an English accent to their standard performance – but Smiths fans might judge otherwise. The band opened with Ocean Breathes Salty and continued to dominate their set with tracks from most recent album Good News for People Who Love Bad News, including the absolute set highlight Bukowski featuring Brock on banjo.
The few older songs included encore track Dramamine, Paper Thin Walls and an excellent Doin’ the Cockroach. The band was reluctant to speak to the audience. There were many pauses between songs but barely any audience conversation besides a brief greeting. However, it was really the music that everyone wanted to hear, and Modest Mouse played it fantastically. In fact the effect of the songs was such that time seemed to blur and the set seemed to finish far too soon, when in reality they played an decent eighteen songs or so. It was a very positive experience.
Not surprisingly, they sold out of shirts at the merch desk.
