Following the devastating cancellation of their 2013 tour to work on their new album, Modest Mouse fans everywhere were ecstatic when a string of tour dates were announced to follow the release of ‘Strangers To Ourselves’ in March; the band’s first album in 8 years. Last night Modest Mouse played in Manchester, returning to The Ritz for the first time since 2009. Manchester was always going to be one of the band’s more special dates of the tour due to it being the hometown of Johnny Marr who worked with lead singer Isaac Brock on the band’s 2007 release ‘We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank’, becoming a fully fledged member of the band during 2006-2009.
Modest Mouse took to the stage with ‘Of Course We Know’ from the new album, a dark and moody track focusing on existential crisis; ‘what in hell are we here for?’ The track was the fifth song to be officially previewed from the record by the band before its release, and though perhaps not an ideal track to get the crowd going, the band sounded sublime. The band had a varied set list featuring tracks from all over their discography, with ‘Tiny Cities Made of Ashes’ from ‘The Moon & Antartica’ album being the second track. The crowd were entirely fired up by the third track ‘Lampshades On Fire’; the band’s first single from the new album which serves as an instant reminder of the Modest Mouse sound we know and love.
Isaac walked on in a wooly hat, which he swiftly took off due to the sweltering heat of The Ritz, which saw him towel dry his hair several times during and set and eventually return for the encore with the world’s smallest man bun on top of his head! It wasn’t just style Isaac was on top of, he also had some witty lines throughout the show, including “I don’t mean to be a dick” after changing his mind “like three times” in between songs. It’s a shame that Isaac doesn’t keep much rapport with the crowd going, though I guess it means there’s time for more songs and that’s never a bad thing.
I’m forever admiring the band’s discordance on their albums, and I admire it even more after seeing them live last night – it takes great skill to go from a beautiful intense performance of a track like ‘Wicked Campaign’ to the rowdy anthem like singles ‘Float On’ and ‘Dashboard’. Though as previously mentioned I don’t personally think that ‘Of Course We Know was an ideal opening comeback track, no track sounded out of place, including ‘Night on The Sun’ which sounded as fresh as it did when it was first released in 1999 as part of a 4-Track EP of the same name that was released exclusively in Japan.
8 years is a long gap to have between albums, as is 6 years between tours, now we have Modest Mouse back on the radar, things can only get better! Check out the band’s latest video for their new single ‘The Ground Walks, with Time in a Box’ below – it’s crazy and just what you’d expect from Modest Mouse, especially Isaac Brock!
