Modest Mouse with Clipse, Band of Horses, Love as Laughter

Aug. 19, Festival Pier

by Jesse Delaney

Rain, giver of life, despoiler of picnics and metaphor for life's rough patches is also a bummer for scalpers.

The sidewalk outside Festival Pier was flooded with people selling Modest Mouse tickets, and prices were falling with the raindrops. Giving away extras was nigh impossible (the unticketed stayed home), which made it even tougher for event staff trying to unload tickets on the sly (but how inconspicuous a scalper can you be while wearing a bright yellow rain slicker?).

Precipitation was on everyone's mind (shoulders, back, etc.) creating puddles large enough to swim across (hope that's rainwater beneath the port-a-potties), and the beverage crew sought higher ground as the standing water at the beer stands continued to rise. And in case anyone forgot about the wet stuff, Love as Laughter provided a reminder from their arid onstage perch, "Is it still raining?" Dicks.

For the most part, remarks were made sparingly as artists approached their sets with the same determination as someone driving through a deluge on the turnpike; cutting the chitchat and putting the pedal to the metal. They came, they played and they got off.

Band of Horses, only a year removed from their first album, debuted songs from their impending sophomore release, Cease to Begin, and capped their set with a stirring cover of "Act Together." Classic rock may not be able to stop the rain, but it can still produce a warm, fuzzy feeling. Whether familiar with the song or not, the crowd was chiming in on the "We should try to get our love together" chorus (with its falsetto "sure won't hurt you now" echo) by the end.

The inclusion of Clipse on the bill raised a few eyebrows, mostly from people who still haven't accepted hip-hop as a legitimate form of musical expression (the same folks singing along loudly to Tom Petty's "Refugee" on the PA system). With lyrics heavily laden with bling, it seemed odd that there was no Clipse swag for sale. Modest Mouse as veteran artists ought to clue them in that while "keys open doors," the real tour money is in merchandising.

Modest Mouse frontman Isaac Brock expressed his appreciation to fans who showed up (and inadvertently put his band down in the process) when he admitted, "I wouldn't come out if it was raining like this." The sentiment worked because the band played like they had something to prove, delivering a really solid set including "Doin' the Cockroach," the only pre-Good News song Modest Mouse consistently play. Just one of the guys for most of the show, Johnny Marr's guitar shone on "Tiny Cities Made of Ashes," and the frenetic middle portion of "Fly Trapped in a Jar" recalled his heyday with The Smiths.

During the encore break, the crowd was entertained by a single voice verbally haranguing the sound crew ("get off that drum set, pussy, it's not yours!") in an effort to bring Modest Mouse back on stage. With pressure mounting to keep up the string of insults, the heckler relented, "I'm running out of things to yell. I don't know what they want." It would seem Brock wanted to hear his own name, because the band re-emerged as the fans took up a chant of "Isaac! Isaac!" (coincidentally coinciding with the completion of tuning and sound check). He took off at the close of "Dramamine" and let the rest of the band jam. After that it was time to float on home.

(j_delaney@citypaper.net)