A funny thing happened on the way to Outside Lands. Modest Mouse made a pit stop in Ojai, and lit up the park with an electrifying performance.
It was a bit surreal to be sitting in the park, surrounded by oak groves, just steps away from the tennis courts where I had played tournaments as a kid, listening to one of the most successful alt punk indie rock bands to come out in the last few decades. But it was also a complete blast.
It was, believe it or not, my first rock concert at Libbey Bowl. The charming intimacy of the venue (fixed seating is 973, plus another couple of hundred people on lawn chairs or sitting on blankets) was intriguingly juxtaposed with the sheer grit of the band — known for edgy guitar riffs (including those of Les Savy Fav’s Seth Jabour, a late sub in the tour for the controversially canceled Simon O’Connor) loads of percussion (thanks to two drummers), and synthesizers swirling over a primal reverb that tauntingly challenges you NOT to bob your head and tap your toes. I lost that challenge almost immediately, as they launched right into a lively setlist starting with “Picking Dragons’ Pockets,” from their latest album, An Eraser and a Maze.
While lead singer/guitarist Isaac Brock is the only original band member left, the Modest Mouse ’90s sound is still relatively intact, but doesn’t feel outdated, and also manages to appeal to multiple generations, as was evident in the Ojai crowd, as well as their upcoming appearance at the ginormous Outside Lands fest this weekend.
“Paper Thin Walls,” from 2000’s The Moon & Antarctica was up next, with the crowd chiming in on the familiar line, “Laugh hard, it’s a long ways to the bank.” From the 2021 album, The Golden Casket, they did “We Are Between,” and “We’re Lucky,” followed by the catchy new song “Speak ‘n Spell (On Not),” and back to 1999’s “Broke,” and 1997’s “Heart Cooks Brain.”
The movement back and forth between different decades of their songs was smooth — with a hard-to-believe almost 30 years in the rearview mirror of songs to choose from — and one of newest tunes, “Third Side of the Moon,” with the lyrics “I wish I’d paid attention to every word that you’d ever said / But you always spoke in a whisper, and I wasn’t good at listening,” is definitely moving to the top of my playlist.
It’s been a while since I’ve been to a show where I felt so thoroughly “in it” that my mind was completely on the music and everything else disappeared. I almost thought those days were gone, but hanging out at the park with Modest Mouse definitely gave me that gift back again.
Rather than leave the encore with their practically mandatory biggest hit, 2004’s “Float On” (with the whole crowd up and singing along), they wrapped up the evening with “Night on the Sun,” an early song from 1999, with the lyrics “So, turn off the light” making an excellent thematic capper to a great evening of rock music under the stars.
