06.16.97

pittsburgh, pa - club laga

From fail@llama.com Wed Jun 25 17:43:56 1997
Date: Wed, 18 Jun 1997 13:09:00 -0400
From: north dakota personified 
To: taboo6@themountaingoats.net
Cc: inland@indiana.edu
Subject: mountain goats show

saw them in pittsburgh monday night.  so amazing.  i talked to john for
about a half-hour before the set and it was so cool -- he answered all
of my questions and was really interested in my comments.  the set:

(john comes out and yells "i'm john, i am the mountain goats, and i'm
here to kick ass and chew bubble gum, but i'm all out of bubble-gum!")

 i've got the sex

("i hate that invisible wall in front of the audience," he says,
referring to that parabolic space where no one ever stands.  "everyone
come up to the front."  no one does.  "i COMMAND you to come to the
front of the stage!"  we move like lemmings, and i am directly in front
of him.  he is practically sweating on me.
"do you want to hear and old one or a new one?"   amid cried for "old
ones!" some bloke yells for "going to georgia".  "oh yeah, i'm going to
play "going to georgia" now, as the second song in the set.  i'm going
to just shoot my wad now," shouts john sarcastically.)

 the recognition scene

(my friend calles for "stars fell on alabama".  john replies
"ordinarally, i would never ever.  but i'm really drunk.")

 stars fell on alabama

("who wants quiet songs?"  one guy raises his hand.  "i appreciate your
honesty.  who wants to see my bust another vein?"  hands all raise.)

 queztalcoatl is born

(someone yells for "orange ball of love" and mr. darnielle gives a
lecture on how taking requests is like taking another life, only doing
it to yourself.  after much dramatization, he ends with "but i've been
drinking since 4". )

 orange ball of love

(ignoring please for "cubs in five," he does "the companion piece to
that song.")

 orange ball of hate
 alpha double negative: going to catalina

(says something about the last song being written from the point-of-view
of a woman.  says he is trying to destroy the image of him as some guy
who sits in his room all day or something .... )

 going to georgia

(the promoter comes up and tells him to stop soon, cause the radar
brothers have to play (btw -- they are lousy).  "has that been a
half-hour already?  well .... in the TRAVESTY known as inter-league
play, the National League today proved once again their superiority as
they Chicago Cubs CRUSHED the Chicago White Sox!)

 cubs in five


that's it.  9 songs.  john told me afterwards that he could have gone on
all night if he wouldn't have been stopped.  the only other time that
ever happened, he said, was in london.  sigh .... it was so
almost-perfect.  the setlist was not followed in any way.  he had
planned to play "west country dream," "sept 19 triple x love love," "snow
crush killing song," and a bunch more.  but i wasn't disappointed in any
way.

-john