there was feasting and dancing in Richmond last night

I'll get my resentment out of the way first: they didn't play Dilaudid, Lion's Teeth, Up The Wolves or the beautiful Pale Green Things, a song about how simple life can really be.

My resentment ends there. The Mountain Goats were amazing.

After last night it's my thinking that a good show isn't just what goes on on stage. It's the crowd, the venue, but most importantly the approach the act takes: are they up there to just put on a show, or are they happy to make everyone in the venue feel a part of what's going on. I've never seen anyone enjoy themselves on stage as much as John Darnielle, which made you think that he was amazed at what he was seeing as much as the near-full Corner Hotel was. It was an intimate affair.

They opened with Wild Sage, a low tempo song with a crunching chorus. The Mountain Goats would be one of the few acts that could open with a lack of melody and have the crowd marveling at proceedings, grinning insanely at what would be coming. On Darnielle's behalf you couldn't tell if he was crying, laughing or acting. Eccentric twitches accompanied a dark and beautiful voice and an intense opening performance. I lent over to Andy and said "well, this is awkward". You didn't know how to react, but you undoubtedly loved it.

By the second song You or Your Memory it was evident at how big The Sunset Tree had become in Australia, largely driven by the catchy anthem This Year and Triple J's whoring of it. The gentle album opener had the biggest sing-a-long since Rise Against's Swing Life Away, much to the unexpected pleasure of Darnielle who stood back and exclaimed "wow". The second indication of this was when the first two chords of Song For Dennis Brown were strung and the subsequent cheer that went up for the simple song about watching life at its most basic:

on the day that dennis brown's lung collapsed, spring rain was misting down on kingston.
and down at the harbor, local cops were intercepting an inbound shipment.
and for a while there it was chaos
as they handcuffed and then roughed up some sailors.

on the day that dennis brown's habits caught up with him, school children sang in choirs.
and out behind the Chinese restaurants
guys were jumping into dumpsters.

One of the highlights for me was Magpie, an upbeat song full of sharp chords that forced Darnielle to use a cheat sheet. Before starting the song he acknowledged "and I know I'm on the wrong side of town to play this". The song is lyrically full of metaphors and is over in two minutes, but has a delicate, string plucking melody combined with faster, bolder chords that you can't help but admire.

He even stopped the gig midway to announce that he would be stopping the party to play Get Lonely, a song that barely rises above a whimper but the one that Darnielle had the most to say about (and there was a lot of talking about the inspiration for each song in the set). Hughes on bass barely did anything bar plucking at three strings every other minute, and you could sense that this was John's song, and that he had to play it. As if anyone minded. On the contrary rather you appreciated the level at which he felt his music.

Catchy as all fuck, The Mountain Goats have songs that are lyrically brilliant, telling stories about every day happenings as well as visiting experiences from Darnielle's past. No acoustic band would talk about death as much as Darnielle and even the songs I didn't know - No Children (a favourite for a small pocket of the crowd), The Best Ever Death Metal Band In Denton, Half Dead and a few more - were instantly recognisable and songs you couldn't help but smiling at, even if that smile was at how much Darnielle appreciated what he had written.

Despite only owning one album and a handful of songs, it was one of most inclusive, amazing experiences I've had at a gig.