Mountain Goats at City Winery 4/11/2016

It seems like April just brings John Darnielle to Chicago whether he’s got a new album out or not. Maybe it’s because he loves the Cubs and wants to see them early before they start to suck. Or maybe it’s the feeling of Spring in his bones getting him out of the house and on the road. Whatever it is, I’m always happy to have him here, and last night he was in a uniquely intimate environment.

Obviously Mountain Goats have played small rooms before (in actuality they’ve only played what one might consider BIG venues for about half their life as a band), but in a seated concert hall with a couple hundred people in attendance-I’m guessing it’s been a while. They sold out three straight nights, with this being night number one. Since they’re playing the same place three nights in a row, I expect the setlist will be varying greatly. We got some real obscure ones, and the audience was fine with that

Some of these songs were seldom played. So much so that Darnielle needed help from audience members to recall the lyrics. On “Enoch 18:14,” JD stumbled when he got to the verse beginning “The ground was dry but giving….” until someone sang out “the sky was nearly black” to great applause. Darnielle seemed shock after only moments earlier stating that no one knew this song (it’s on The Life Of The World To Come).

We were also treated to some newer and more popular fare: “Love Love Love,” “Damn These Vampires,” and “Stabbed To Death Outside Sam Juan” all got big cheers from the audience. The biggest reaction, unsurprisingly, came when they launched into “No Children.” Darnielle went out and sang with the audience, foregoing a microphone for the majority of the tune. This ended the first of two encores and the energy was still at 11.