Modest Mouse
Breaker Breaker has a chick drummer who wore a short skirt. She didn't shave her armpits, so I fixedly avoided noticing the panties she flashed the whole time.
A woman climbed on stage with her drink and began to sway-dance with the guitarist. Her stomach appeared post-natal and ought not have been as skantily dressed as she chose to have it. She was dragged from the stage by a large black bouncer. Smiling the whole time.
I remember thinking she had one of the prettiest smiles I'd ever seen.
The Walkmen didn't have the best sound, unfortunately. There was something rudely blaring about it all. Someone said it's because we were up against the stage. I disagreed. I've been belly-up to rockstars for scores of shows and sometimes the sound is just bad. The end of their set was better than the first.
There was no where to dab the sweat any more. The back of my hand was aleady wet before I could use it to dry my chin and upper lip. Just like my mother, I sweat on my chin and upper lip quite profusely.
The thought occured to me that if the sound for Modest Mouse was anything like for The Walkmen then maybe I'd just move back in the crowd. I'd rather hear them well than close. I could move back and join my other friends. The ones who pre-partied and showed up late.
I showed up early and drank nothing. Drinking makes me have to pee. And it makes me smoke more. And it makes me not as cognizant for rock 'n' roll. Some shows require beer. Some shows require gin. Some shows require my heart on my sleave and nothing more.
I showed up early and alone, but to my surprise was joined by Joe. He's not a Modest Mouse fan. We've only hung out a handful of times since January. He thought Broken Social Scene was playing. For the rest of the night we held our ground. Me and Joe. And I enjoyed it, as though we were friends or something, and I felt as though he were not a poor companion at all.
And the heat increased as the bodies packed in tighter for the headliner. One girl broke for the bar and returned with an arm load of water bottles which she distributed generously. At that point I knew I would survive, and remain at the front of the crowd.
Modest Mouse formed on the stage with grace an aplomb. Technically precise. Isaac spoke with his good-natured lisp and I braced myself to keep my excitement from overflowing.
From Good News they played:
Float On
Ocean Breathes Salty
The World At Large (finale)
Bury Me With It
Bukowski
The View (first song)
Satin in a Coffin
Black Cadillacs
The Good Times Are Killing Me
From The Moon and Antarctica they played:
3rd Planet
Wild Pack of Family Dogs
Paper Thin Walls
From Lonesome Crowded West they played:
Doin the Cockroach
Trailer Trash
Amelia found me when they played Trailer Trash. The first song I'd ever heard of theirs. The one "about my family"... She knew I might need a friend nearby. Perhaps if I could see a videotape of my reaction to hearing the intro chords to that song I would be embarrassed.
I dug my fingernails into my palm and bit my knuckles to keep from crying.
No one would have noticed I was crying. Our shirts were all drenched. Our socks were wet. Our arms and legs were sweating from every pore. Tears would have dissapeared.
The next morning I felt hung over and I didn't even drink.
