Live Review + Photos: The Mountain Goats (Solo) at the Teragram Ballroom

The night John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats played at the Teragram Ballroom was honest, intimate and happy. From the top of the night, it was a packed house, only seeming to fill more as time passed. To kick off an intimate night, Rett Madison illuminated the stage with both her sequinned attire and charming personality. She was a natural on stage, suavely shifting between songs, jokes, and storytelling throughout her set. 

Accompanied just by her guitar, Madison guided the audience through an emotional rollercoaster with her powerful, clear, and enchanting voice. With tracks like “Flea Market” and “One for Jackie, One for Crystal,” Rett opened up about her experience grieving her mom’s suicide after battling addiction and mental health. Here, Rett’s pain, sorrow, anger and longing traveled through her lyrics directly into the hearts of the audience. In tracks like “Pin-Up Daddy” and “God is a Woman,” she gave a glimpse into her encounters with queerness and gender fluidity. See? An emotional rollercoaster. Rett was a treat for the audience, The Mountain Goats could not have chosen a better person to start off the night.

Deeper into the night, a rock themed backing track with heavy bass ignited the crowd, introducing a dark silhouette of John illuminated by red spotlights on stage. However, instead of opening with a song, he opened with a joke. The crowd loved it. They loved him. Throughout the night, he cracked jokes, told stories, taking crowd engagement to a whole other level. He even confessed that his silly goal as a performer was for everyone to leave saying, “I’m happy.”  Like Rett, John kept things simple with either a piano or guitar accompaniment, and from “Ghosts” to “California Song,” each of his tracks were written in a stream of consciousness narrative style. It was refreshing being able to both live through the scenarios from his songs while also following his train of thought. That’s challenging to accomplish and John did a stellar job at it–no wonder he’s nominated for a Songwriters Guild award.

At about 8 songs deep into his set, John switched to his piano and showed the audience a more sentimental and spiritual side with tracks like “Standing in the Need of Prayer” and “1 John 4:16.” Here, his tenderness seemed to flow through his fingertips, reflecting perfectly and honestly through the keys. A few songs later, he picked up the crowd with “Dance Music” where everyone could be heard singing along. At this point, the makeup of the audience was telling because there was a collection of harmonies accompanying John’s original melody. When the song finished, the crowd erupted into applause…in fact, throughout the night they gave the same powerful applause after every song. 

Near the end of the night, John increasingly became more vulnerable with the crowd. He admitted that he always gets the key wrong whenever he plays “The Day the Aliens Came.” He forgot the lyrics for “Solidarity Forever” and asked the audience for some help. He even acknowledged the encore contract between audiences and performers. With that, John left around song 18 and came back to perform 4 more “encore” songs. John did a fantastic job. His humor, personality–everything was perfect for his audience. In fact, he left them saying, “I’m happy.”       

Setlist:

Rett Madison

1. Fleas
2. Skydiving
3. Shame is a River
4. Pin-Up Daddy
5. Flea Market
6. One for Jackie, One for Crystal
7. God is a Woman

Mountain Goats

Guitar

1. (Piece from a 2006 notebook)
2. Ghosts
3. In the Hidden Places
4. Elijah
5. Alphabetizing
6. Baboon
7. Michael Myers Resplendent

Piano

1. Standing in the Need of Prayer (cover)
2. 1 John 4:16
3. The Diaz Brothers

Guitar

1. The Day the Aliens Came
2. Dance Music
3. There Will Be No Divorce
4. Solidarity Forever (cover)
5. Jam Eater Blues
6. Jenny
7. Autoclave
8. This Year

Encore (guitar)

1. The Mess Inside
2. Maybe Sprout Wings
3. I Hope You Dance (Lee Ann Womack cover) (Snippet) +No Children
4. California Song

Rett Madison

The Mountain Goats (Solo)

All photos by Madison Hedgecock.