Modest Mouse closed their two-night residency in United Palace Theater last night (April 30) with two diverse supporting acts in tow. Dressed in all white, Philly’s Man Man opened with sinister carnival pop, punctuated with horns, hisses and synchronized leaps. Brooklyn indie rock quartet Love as Laughter followed with their brooding guitar rock. Led by flannel-clad frontman Sam Jayne, the group proffered surly lyrics over crunching riffs.
When Modest Mouse took the stage, the audience immediately rose to their feet and began dancing in the aisles. Singer Isaac Brock’s ramshackle pipes filled the expansive venue, occasionally sharing the mic with the band’s dapper new member, ex-Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr. The show relied heavily on the Washington natives’ two most recent outings, 2004’s Good News for People Who Love Bad News and this year’s We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank. From the glowing sheen of “Dashboard” to the deliberate march of “Float On,” the band navigated through a set that was both passionate and precise. But Brock often favored the former, trembling with fury and even bending over to play his guitar with his teeth during the performance. PHOTOS BY DAVE GUSTAV
We asked: If you were in a band, which famous musician would you ask to join your lineup?
