A Mid-Summer Night with Modest Mouse
The weather gods had blessed us with a near perfect evening of high 70s to take in the sounds of PNW’s own Modest Mouse. The venue, Pioneer Courthouse Square has been affectionately known as Portland’s “Living Room” since its creation in 1984. The Square is a terraced, brick-lined urban park at the heart of the downtown core that was packed with concert goers. It had been four years since the band last played in the Square and we were ready. Upon arrival, the vibes were very chill, which I surmised was the result of a seven-day stretch of weather in the 80’s and 90’s coupled with a few unhealthy air quality days as the result of many fires burning in Central Oregon. The heat and smoke had seen to zap our collective energy.
The crowd was filled with all types of people both young and old and I saw many wearing Modest Mouse tour shwag of yesteryear. As you can imagine, as with any eclectic group, many were enjoying various things in this “living room.” On offer: tacos, cheesesteaks, Monster Energy, THC-infused seltzers, kind beer and copious amounts of kind bud wafting through the air.
As I made my way towards the stage to get a closer look, I heard one hungry fan yelling, “Isaac, get your sexy ass out here!”
Soon after, the band took the stage and began playing “Picking Dragons’ Pockets.” Lead singer/guitarist Isaac Brock looked extremely dapper on this nice August night wearing a suit with a red bandana in the back pocket and yes, hiking boots. Next up, the sounds of “Paper Thin Walls” echoed off the high-rise buildings encompassing the square and everyone danced. Isaac then addressed the crowd and reminded us of the crows flying overhead and for us to not forget that pigeons are lovely too.
The show pulled from nearly every era of the band’s catalog, but the backbone of the night was clearly An Eraser and a Maze, the eighth studio album that dropped just last month; six cuts from it made the set, including opener “Picking Dragons’ Pockets” and set-closer “Third Side of the Moon.” For a crowd still getting familiar with the new material, the band smartly bookended it with the songs everyone came to hear.
The middle stretch was a gift to longtime fans. “Heart Cooks Brain” and “Trucker’s Atlas,” both off The Lonesome Crowded West, landed with the kind of chaotic energy that made the Square feel more like a basement show than an outdoor civic plaza. “Tiny Cities Made of Ashes” and “Paper Thin Walls,” both from The Moon & Antarctica, gave the set some of its most atmospheric moments, the sound bouncing off the surrounding high-rises exactly the way Isaac’s between-song crow commentary suggested he’d noticed too.
By the time “Ocean Breathes Salty” and “Satin in a Coffin” rolled around, both Good News for People Who Love Bad News staples, the crowd’s earlier heat-and-smoke fatigue had completely burned off. People who’d been swaying found themselves jumping.
The band closed the main set with “Third Side of the Moon” before returning for a four-song encore that leaned deep-cut: “Dogbed in Heaven / Give It a Skeleton” off the new record, a rowdy “Cowboy Dan” that had the whole square shouting along, and two from 2021’s The Golden Casket, “We Are Between” and “We’re Lucky” to send everyone back into the Portland mid-summer night.
By Brett Rollin with photographs from Adam Markle