April 15, 2007
Shame on Modest Mouse
I go to a lot of shows as a fan and music writer. (on average 2-3 per week) I have stood through a lot of mediocre and a few down right awful acts, and to date I had never left a venue based on peformance alone. Modest Mouse’s performance tonight at the Paramount Theatre (which is still going on as I type) changed that. From the first song the sound was terrible, you could barely hear Isaac Brock’s vocals on most songs and there was a constant shrieking of feed back. Whatever the issue was, no one could be bothered to fix it or just turn it down, no the feedback continued for over an hour, getting worse each song. While the feedback got louder and screechier, Brock’s vocals were quieter and more erratic. Though I’d been previously dissapointed by Modest Mouse live I was really hopeful for tonight’s show with the new line up, some decent new material, and a sold out home town crowd.
But I just have to come to grips that while they put out great albums, they stink live. I will never waste money on seeing Modest Mouse again.
on Sunday, April 15th, 2007 at 10:42 pm
File This One Under: Concert Review
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April 17th, 2007 12:27
Abbey is right. The sound system was a disaster. However, MM & Love as Laughter were equally upset.
The problem was two-fold: A.) MM was using an all new sound system on this new tour ( no excuse) but B.) they did not have full control with the setup. Paramount provides really smart “union guys” that must be used by the bands. The monitors started giving a hissing sound, and quit working in the LAL set. After the “fix” between sets, it happened again. Maybe you left before Brock actually left the stage during a song to yell at the stage crew.
April 17th, 2007 13:17
I don’t know if I left before brock left the stage to yell at the crew. My concert companion (josh) told me that when I left I only missed two songs before the encore, so I pretty much suffered through the entire show.
We had missed the opening acts though, so I had no idea it had been a problem through out the evening.
Thanks for the comment Reggie. Please keep reading and responding.
April 26th, 2007 02:12
Damn this sucks to hear. I’m going to a show tomorrow, interested in how the sound quality will be.
April 26th, 2007 11:03
I’ve seen MM numerous times now and they really are extremely hit or miss.The last time they came to the Paramount two years ago- they were REALLY on point and played a great variety of songs. I was so dissapointed that very few songs they played were older than the “Good news for people who love bad news” era. And yes, most of all the sound SUCKED. On several occasions I had no idea brock had even started singing. Very frustrating.
I miss Modest Mouse at the Showbox.
April 26th, 2007 15:05
It would help if the pa was even slightly representative where the sound console is. Working that room is like shooting video in the dark. The Paramount totally sucks.
April 29th, 2007 07:13
I just saw them in Boston and they could have sounded better. The dual drum setup was cool, but the vocals were way too muddled and hard to hear. There was the feedback problem throughout the show too.
April 29th, 2007 15:12
so much for that feedback problem just being the union guys at the Paramount! Sorry to hear the sound sucked for you too… the dual drum set up was pretty mesmerizing though.
May 15th, 2007 14:22
Agreed on the Paramount being the problem. A lot of these bands and their management really need to consider what venues play to their strength. Three nights at the Showbox would suit them much better.
June 7th, 2007 15:59
I went to see MM, LAL, and man man in New Orleans. Whatever the problem was they seemed to have the bulk of it worked out by then, though it was obvious they were experimenting with the sounds–which makes a lot more sense now that I’ve read this. I hate that you didn’t get to see them put on a good show, I wouldn’t give up on them yet though… you might miss out on something spectacular.
December 6th, 2009 19:26
I saw Modest Mouse live in Galway, Ireland tonight and it was pretty shit. On top of that vocals were inaudible. Complete waste of money for a band that charges big bucks and sounds bad. Not that modest in my own opinion.