Yearlong Song Challenge, Day 164: Brianna

Prompt: "The least appropriate song to play at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade"

Selected by Brianna

"God Is an Indian and You're an Asshole"

Modest Mouse

Strangers to Ourselves, 2015

It feels weird to be old enough that the favorite music from my youth is now going through the anniversary tour stage of things. If I close my eyes, I'm back in my family living room watching the paper-doll looking music video for "Float On" on MTV, but you're telling me that was 20 years ago? Shocking, honestly. But I guess that's life for you.

I may have been in a little bit of denial about that fact when the tickets to the big 2-0 celebration tour for Good News for People Who Love Bad News went on sale. That is, I made almost no effort to obtain them and said tickets went on to sell out fairly quickly. I chalked it up as a missed opportunity I could try to amend closer to the date of the show and moved on. It honestly wasn't even on my radar anymore when my friend reminded me of it while tailgating a recent Eagles game. I had a lot going on at school that week but asked her to keep an eye open for people selling tickets for me; she had a knack for things like that and could I really stomach missing a show like this? Anyways, thanks to a nice man on Reddit and his reasonably priced extra ticket, my friend and I got to do the damn thing.

The damn thing:

1. "The World at Large"
2. "Float On"
3. "Ocean Breathes Salty"
4. "Dig Your Grave"
5. "Bury Me With It"
6. "Dance Hall"
7. "Bukowski"
8. "This Devil's Workday"
9. "The View"
10. "Satin in a Coffin"
11. "Interlude (Milo)"
12. "Blame It on the Tetons"
13. "Black Cadillacs"
14. "One Chance"
15. "The Good Times Are Killing Me"
    -Encore 1-
16. "Dark Center of the Universe"
17. "Satellite Skin"
18. "Guilty Cocker Spaniels"
19. "The Whale Song"
20. "History Sticks to Your Feet"
21. "King Rat"
22. "Gravity Rides Everything"
    -Encore 2-
23. "Third Side of the Moon"
24. "Paper Thin Walls"

I'm not going to lie, I was tampering my expectations going into things. I feel for artists who have had to play their big hits over and over again, and with so many hits on Good News, I thought perhaps the spark for these tunes would be lacking. Plus, frontman Isaac Brock, can be a bit of a wildcard to begin with, and I know this album has a big chapter in the story of his fight with sobriety. 

Let me tell you, folks, the energy was unmatched. From the second they walked on stage, until the second encore wrapped, the band looked positively overjoyed to be there and sharing this album with us. We matched what they were giving us and they were giving it right back—a true moment of hey, we're all here because we love this shit, right? let's love it together. 

And where I thought a spark would be lacking, new things emerged. Unexplored riffs, more than a few moments for the horns and percussion to shine, tempo and key switch-ups; they were the old songs in all their glory but also more than that. It was fun to catch a few people turn to each other in the crowd like "what was THAT?" By the time the main set was through, I couldn't believe that I had almost let myself miss it. A truly defining album, and seeing it live just smacks you in the face with realization that not much else is better than that. 

The choice in encore songs was everything we wanted. For the more surface level Modest Mouse fan, that might be unfamiliar with the sounds of round one, I highly recommend the No One's First, And You're Next EP that the bulk of the songs there come from. Sandwiched between "Dark Center" and "Gravity Rides Everything" made it a dream.

What's that, you say? What about the second encore? The one they haven't done at any other show on the entire tour? With the new song they played? Yeah, that was pretty, pretty cool.

As we walked out of that place, the air was buzzing with folks reliving the night. We all seemed to agree on one thing: this band is as good as they've ever been, and that was a night on the highlight reel of life. For someone who had been dragging her feet on getting tickets, it hit home to me how fast everything goes, and with such ease. This is music that I loved for 20 years, and I almost just let it pass me by. I caught myself this time, but had I let other moments like this already go without notice? Would I do it in the future? 

Let's hope not. In the meantime, I'm just going to try to say no to things, all because I'm tired on a school night, a whole lot less. Who knows how fast the next twenty's going to go!