A folky throng turned up to support prolific recording artists The Mountain Goats.
Warm-up DJ Guy Blackman provided an off-the-wall selection to accompany the chit-chat and it was pleasing to hear some Bowie thrown into the mix. Bringing along producer/solo acoustic act John Vanderslice to fulfil support duties gave the night a genuine ‘mutual admiration society’ feel. Vanderslice’s heavy San Franciscan accent was prevalent and seemed a mask for his somewhat vocal inadequacy. Despite the oddball ditties – “This is a song about a rabbit that may be dead, it’s missing for sure” – he only managed to engage the punters intermittently. Peter Hughes of The Mountain Goats joined Vanderslice onstage to lend a much-needed hand at one point. The backing vocals and vigorous hand-clapping he provided during Pale Horse temporarily silenced the conversational gathering who eagerly anticipated the bleating that would follow.
With 461 songs featured in their online catalogue, it would have been impossible for The Goats to accommodate every screamed-out request. The set-up made them resemble book-ends on either side of the stage, encasing a lonely microphone-stand in the middle. Singer/songwriter John Darnielle was compelling. He lived and breathed his odes to the misfit within – “When I was 14 years old I was a scrawny little fellow” – and we were captivated. The combination of acoustic guitar/bass/vox transported us to the highest summit; perfect diction recalled stories of friends past we wished we could have met as well as vivid caricatures. Cyrus and Jeff’s endeavours to become ‘The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton’ had us chanting “Hail Satan!” to chastise the sceptics identified in this offering. The crowd murmured its recognition; aforementioned band “never settled on a name but the top three contenders after weeks of debate were Satan’s Fingers and The Killers and The Hospital Bombers”.
Consummate entertainer Darnielle interspersed tracks with amusing anecdotes and displayed endearing honesty: “This song is new to this tour which means I——it up sometimes.” He produced his glasses together with a “cheat sheet” to tackle Magpie. It’s little wonder that having toured as Darnielle’s bass-player in ‘95 and ‘96 the continued services of Peter Hughes have been called upon. He plucked and strummed with aplomb and possessed charisma in bucket loads without pulling focus.
Dynamically, the duo was supreme. At times the arrangements were parred down to a few chords and a whisper. All were mesmerised bar a huddle of black sheep who continued to share mundane details before shushing each other in insincere and exaggerated fashion. “If you’ll indulge me in a couple more depressing new ones then I’ll follow with some of the misanthropically desperate old ones,” promised Darnielle. Vanderslice was invited onto the stage to utilise the centre microphone, his commitment to Darnielle unmistakable. All three duelling guitars were seamlessly synchronised. Stand-out track This Year was greeted enthusiastically and the audience belted it out with gusto: “I am gonna make it through this year, if it kills me!”
The gig’s proximity to the onset of 2007 granted such sentiment with extra poignancy. The heat inside the venue was infernal but this didn’t wane our enthusiasm as two encores were demanded. Closing ballad California Song was exquisite. Performed without the aid of microphones all ears strained to pick up the harmonious homage. “This is beautiful!” whispered a neighbour in the crowd. Darnielle removed his guitar and wandered off the stage to rapturous applause. Hughes continued, a lonely Goat strumming sensitively. At the song’s conclusion he freed himself from his instrument, thanked us profusely and disappeared. The flock dispersed pensively and souls were nourished to face life’s challenges head on.
