This is indeed a strange place for the Mountain Goats. The mystical carvings belie a certain mystery that the band has never once possessed, often baring their lyrics clearly upon their sleeve, though that may be their greatest strength. Despite the strange bedfellows of the venue and main performers, there was a certain magic sifting through the crowd. Each person waited, eyes locked on the stage for John Darnielle and company to regale them with tales of missing tape masters and friends forced to walk up to Andrew Eldritch. But, most of all, they were there for the music in a way that is often only seen at the most intimate of concerts.

The show began on time, relatively early for a Los Angeles gig, with Holy Sons’ sole member taking the stage and quickly launching into a series of covers and original songs complete with wild guitar shredding and an anecdote on joke construction that may have been the most enjoyable part of the set despite the solid song performances. The theme of incredible crowd work would continue throughout the night, creating the perfect blend of comedy and music.

When the Mountain Goats took the stage there was a moment of transcendence. The crowd erupted in a way that is almost exclusively reserved for popstars and hip-hop headliners. These were gods to them, idols to be worshiped; though the Mountain Goats clearly did not believe that themselves, as each cheer was met with a thank you, and every chant with a chuckling “fuck yes.” The band took the stage fittingly clad in black for the release of their latest masterpiece “Goths” and wasted no time launching into some of their newest tracks, “Rain in Soho” and “Stench of the Unburied.” While the songs were only released weeks ago, a newcomer would have thought these to be fan favorites as the crowd yelled along with nearly every lyric. The first hit of the show they played was “In the Craters on the Moon” off of Heretic Pride and the crowd essentially lost it during the breakdowns. While it wasn’t quite losing it in the sense of a mosh pit or wild jumping, the crowd was visibly swaying while screaming fans cheered on every note of guitar and saxophone as the music reached a wild swell.

After six songs, the band retreated to the back while Darnielle and Peter Hughes (the bassist for the Mountain Goats) played a cover of “Fortune Comes Today,” which led into the former covering the first verse of Heart’s “Crazy on You” solo. This was followed by an intimate set of personal songs and unreleased material, including a haunting piece detailing child abuse, called “Song for My Stepfather,” which, while unreleased, may be one of the greatest Mountain Goats songs of all time. After launching into a hilariously relatable story about how he failed to bring his master tape for the upcoming song “I’ve Got the Sex” to the mastering studio in Ventura back in 1994, he brought the band back on stage to play fan favorite “San Bernardino,” as well as few more cuts from Goths, before closing the set with the wonderful “Heel Turn 2” and gracefully exiting the stage.

An encore was absolutely inevitable for this set and the Mountain Goats happily obliged, starting it off with a California crowd-pleaser, “We Do It Different on the West Coast,” which was chanted in perfect unison by the crowd every single time the chorus came in. The band closed the incredible six-song encore with the classic “This Year,” which was met with great crowd approval — so great, in fact, that they came out to perform an additional three song encore that began with John joking, “The more I listen to Grateful Dead the longer my encores get.” This encore closed fittingly with “California Song” and a brief jam session before the band exited the stage piece by piece, drawing a beautiful close to one of the greatest shows to ever be played at the Mayan Theater.

Setlist:

Full Band
1. Rain in Soho
2. Stench of the Unburied
3. Harlem Roulette
4. In the Craters on the Moon
5. Wear Black
6. Unicorn Tolerance

Peter and John
7. Fortune Came Today (Original by Wckr Spgt)

John (Solo)
8. Crazy on You (Original by Heart) (First Verse Only)
9. From TG&Y
10.You’re in Maya
11. Song for My Stepfather
12. Song for an Old Friend
13. I’ve Got the Sex

Full Band
14. San Bernardino
15. Paid in Cocaine
16. Andrew Eldritch Is Moving Back to Leeds
17. The Young Thousands
18. Broom People
19. Heel Turn 2

Encore 1
20. We Do It Different on the West Coast
21. Up the Wolves
22. No Children
23. Abandoned Flesh
24. Spent Gladiator 2
25. This Year

Encore 2
26. The Diaz Brothers
27. Palmcorder Yajna
28. California Song

Photo Credit: Drew Pitt