Modest Mouse Live at The Radisson, Galway, 05/12/2009 REVIEW

A cold wet miserable Saturday in Galway was the setting for the gig tonight. Modest Mouse were about to play their first of two gigs at the Radisson Blu Hotel. After being rescheduled first from Dolans Limerick to the Roisin Dubh in Galway the hotel was the final venue picked. Got there early and the hotel ballroom was a really nice setting for a gig, well on second thoughts maybe a wedding? The balcony offered an alternative to people you didn't want to brave the packed crowd huddling around the big stage set up in the back. The room stated it could hold in and around 700, im sure there was more packed in tonight.

The first band up were Scottish outfit “Frightened Rabbit”, I have been a really big fan of their second album released in 2008 “The Midnight Organ Fight”, it was great to see these guys live and what a great performance they put on. I didn’t catch the set list and if anyone did I would be grateful if you could post it up here. The first thing about their show that catches your eye , is their drummer Grant Hutchison. The guy is beyond energetic in his movements, he gives an incredible live performance. He seems to drum what three drummers would struggle with, quite amazing to watch. The band are a seriously good live band and the songs transport brilliantly on a live stage. The crowd are very well warmed up for the main act, Frightened Rabbit are currently working on a 2010 release called “The Winter of Mixed Drinks”, Hopefully they will be back on Irish soil again, for now check them out here : http://www.myspace.com/frightenedrabbit

Next up the much anticipated Modest Mouse. The stage was set up for what looked like several bands, two drum kits, and a mountain of guitars, amps and percussion items. The roadie seemed to go on stage a hundred times sorting everything out, a full hour and a half went by and the crowd drew weary of waiting. Then they finally came on to much applause; it was all business by the looks of these guys and this is the way it remained all night. Very little crowd interaction apart from a few mumbles that i couldn't work out, it was just purely all about the music. 6 guys adored the large stage that suddenly became very crowded and blasted straight into “Gravity Rides Everything” from their 2000 release “The Moon & Antarctica”, The gigs set list was the talking point after the gig, Ill be honest my favorite album of these guys is their 2007 release “We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank”. This is rarely off the ipod and unfortunately they chose to play just two from that album, you will never guess my highlights of the night?

This set list is a Hardcore MM fans dream as they basically got a track in from all their releases down through the years even including a rarely played live song from their 1997 EP “The Fruit That Ate Itself” , 4 of the 17 songs came from old EP’s that most people im sure don’t even know of, I can only assume from the few people knowing the actual words, most of the people there that night weren’t in this Hardcore MM fan bracket as they were there to hear their big fan favourite of “Float On”, they were sorely let down as this never got played and again ill be honest I really wanted to hear it too, It is my favourite song of theirs and after every song in my head I kept playing the intro but it never got played, Initially after the gig I was very disappointed with the lack of songs from “we were dead…” and the lack of “float on” but you have to step back and realise that aside from this the songs the did play were fantastic and their sound throughout the night was amazing, they are an Incredible live act and put on an amazing live show, even though they took forever to get on stage and took forever to get back on stage for the encore, they didn’t play the song most people that paid to get in wanted and I got just two songs from my favourite album of theirs, It wont deter me from seeing them again though as the show they did put on was great and I will end up seeing Float On live one day, I am sure! Cheers for a great night!

Set List :

Gravity Rides Everything

The View

Dashboard

Dramamine

The Way Down

Autumn Beds

Bury Me With It

Cockroach

Broke

Parting of the Sensory

Whale Song

Here It Comes

Satellite Skin

Satin In A Coffin

Encore :

3rd Planet

Tiny City Made of Ashes

Wild Packs of Family Dogs