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October 1, 2018

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Oregon-based rockers Modest Mouse brought their brand of indie stylings to a packed Akron Civic Theatre on Saturday night.

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Founding members Isaac Brock (vocals, guitar) and Jeremiah Green (drums) led an eight-piece ensemble.  The band now sports two additional percussionists, two keyboardists who also double on violin, an additional guitarist and a bassist which leads to a very tightly packed of piece of real estate.

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They kicked off the show with "The World At Large" from their 2004 Grammy-nominated album, Good News For People Who Love Bad News.  It was the first of four songs that were played from that platinum-selling album.

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Brock and his band mates were pretty stationary throughout the evening and didn't offer much banter between songs.  Brock did thank the audience for coming out to his show and noted that Hall of Famer Grand Master Flash was playing a show right across the street.  He appreciated the fans for supporting the band.

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Fan favorite "Dashboard" was played early in the set and really got the crowd dancing in their seats.

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However, the one negative thing from the show was how muddied the vocals were in the mix.  It was really difficult to understand anything that he sang and unfortunately, the problem was never corrected.

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The band played at least one song from every album that they have released including, "Coyotes," "Invisible," and "King Rat."

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Towards the end of the set, the band tore into their number one hit on the Alternative charts from 2004, "Float On."  This was a nice addition because the band doesn't play this tune that often in concert.

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After ending the set with "The Tortoise and the Tourist," the outfit came back to play a four song encore consisting of "Of Course We Know," "A Different City," "Tiny Cities Made Of Ashes" and "Out Of Gas."

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Alaskan alternative band Termination Dusk brought a quirky, B-52s vibe to the crowd.  The quartet kinda seemed in a hurry to get off stage.  The lead singer noted, twice, that they had to leave right after the show to play a gig in Brooklyn the next day.

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Probably not the best way to win over an audience by worrying about their next gig. 

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Concentrate on people that came to this gig early to check your band out, give them a good performance, and maybe you might earn a few new fans.

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Review and photos by Greg Drugan