Modest Mouse Navigates The Labyrinth Of NYC To Feast On The Big Apple

Isaac Brock and Modest Mouse disrupted the mid-week doldrums to perform at the SummerStage in Central Park on an unseasonably warm Wednesday evening in New York City. British rockers The Cribs accompanied the Pacific Northwest alt-rock stalwarts to open the show. Both bands share a common link as guitarist Johnny Marr—of The Smiths notoriety—became a regular with The Cribs after a short stint among Modest Mouse’s line-up.

Modest Mouse’s current line-up features songwriter, vocalist, and guitarist Isaac Brock, original drummer, Jeremiah Green, multi-instrumentalist Tom Peloso, Russell Higbee on keyboards, bass, and rhythm guitar, percussionist Ben Massarella, and Simon O’Connor on lead guitar.

After The Cribs presented their crunchy rock and roll, Modest Mouse opened their set with a trip down memory lane with “Dramamine” off 1996’s This Is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About. A succinct “Life Like Weeds” tease was squeezed into the mix.

Showcasing their most recent album, 2021’s The Golden Casket, Modest Mouse performed “We are Between” and “We’re Lucky” before rifling through their repertoire to ignite the crowd with a classic “Fire It Up”. Another old-school tune, “3rd Planet” off 2000’s Moon & Antarctica, spun on its axis before “Lampshades on Fire” and “Fuck Your Acid Trip” marked the return to more recent albums.

A rare performance of “Teeth Like God’s Shoeshine” from ’97’s The Lonesome Crowded West blazed down a path for a bouncing road trip through “Dashboard” and into “Tiny Cities Made of Ashes”. Returning to The Golden Casket, Isaac Brock asked to “Leave a Light On” in order to help “Bukowski” find and stumble his way back home.

The only track from 2009’s No One’s First, And You’re Next followed with an aggressive performance of “King Rat”. Having elected to wield a banjo during “Bukowski” and “King Rat”, Issac then picked the guitar back up for a round of older tunes. “Breakthrough” led into “Gravity Rides Everything” before “Float On” reenergized the crowd.

The NYC audience embraced the band’s most commercially successful song, but most—though not all—went oddly quiet during a jammy cut of the esoteric “Night on the Sun”. After teasing the melody of “Broke”, Modest Mouse finished the lengthy set with “Back to the Middle”, the final track of their most recent release.

Upon returning for the encore, Modest Mouse jumped around their three-decade-long career but first stuck to their newest with a tongue-twisting “Wooden Soldiers” that whispered its words through the heart of Central Park. Navigating through ‘97’s The Lonesome Crowded West after egging on fans of the New York Rangers—who are currently in the midst of a steep battle for the Stanley Cup against the Tampa Bay Lightning—Isaac led his band through “Trailer Trash”, which included a verse of “Perpetual Motion Machine”. Another rarity, “The Ground Walks, with Time in a Box”, emerged in the penultimate slot before Modest Mouse closed the show with a rowdy performance of “Spitting Venom”.

As is his style, Isaac Brock entertained the SummerStage crowd throughout Wednesday night’s concert, ranting and raving and joking in a rambling manner that is sometimes hard to follow. Those with the patience and determination to pay attention and keep up understand his creative brilliance. He is on-the-nose, off-the-cuff, in the moment, and always ready to rock and roll.

Setlist: Modest Mouse | SummerStage in Central Park | New York, NY | 6/8/22

Set: Dramamine [1], We are Between, We’re Lucky, Fire It Up, 3rd Planet, Lampshades on Fire [2], Fuck Your Acid Trip, Teeth Like God’s Shoeshine [3], Dashboard, Tiny Cities Made of Ashes, Leave a Light On, Bukowski, King Rat, Breakthrough, Gravity Rides Everything, Float On, Night on the Sun [4], Back to the Middle

Encore: Wooden Soldiers, Trailer Trash [5], The Ground Walks, With Time in a Box, Spitting Venom

[1] With “Life Like Weeds” tease.
[2] With “Teddy Bears” chorus.
[3] Shortened.
[4] With “Broke” tease.
[5] With “Perpetual Motion Machine” tease.