2022 marks the 25th anniversary of Modest Mouse’s seminal album The Lonesome Crowded West, and the band is celebrating in a big way. Last night (November 18), the indie kicked off an anniversary tour to celebrate the milestone at the Wilma Theater in Missoula, Montana. Modest Mouse is fresh off touring for their most recent release, 2021’s The Golden Casket, which only finished up on October 5th. The anniversary tour has the lineup of Isaac Brock, Jeremiah Green, Russell Higbee, and Simon O’Connor going across North America for roughly a month.
Modest Mouse released The Lonesome Crowded West back in 1997 when the whole band was still in their early twenties. That youthfulness is built into the DNA of this album, the angsty, sharp guitar chords cut through the nasally vocals that belt out lyrics of urgency. The album shifts moods and genres with ease, There’s the 7-minute odyssey of “Lounge (Closing Time)” on the same tracklist as the fuzzy, punk rock-inspired “Shit Luck”, creating a juxtaposition that proves the band’s ability to break genre barriers and use the scraps to create a refreshing piece of music. To this day the album is praised as one of the best albums from the 90s and 25 years later Modest Mouse is still able to tear through the album like it was released yesterday.
Fittingly so, Modest Mouse performed The Lonesome Crowded West in its entirety. They had to dust off a few of the songs for this setlist, the aforementioned song “Lounge (Closing Time)” had not been performed since 1998. Outside of the album, the three-song encore included “Dramamine” from their debut album This is A Long Drive for Someone With Nothing To Think About along with “Grey Ice Water” and “A Life of Arctic Sounds” both from their album Building Nothing Out Of Something. “A Life of Arctic Sounds” had not been performed live since 2003.
Modest Mouse will carry on with the tour until December 17th when they perform in New York City. The tour will have stops in Vancouver, Dallas, Chicago, and two homecoming shows in Seattle. Check out the full setlist, tour dates, and footage from last night’s show below:
Setlist: https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/modest-mouse/2022/wilma-theatre-missoula-mt-63bf928f.html
Dates:
11-18 Missoula, MT – Wilma Theater
11-19 Spokane, WA – Knitting Factory Spokane
11-21 Seattle, WA – The Showbox
11-22 Seattle, WA – The Showbox
11-25 Portland, OR – Crystal Ballroom
11-27 Vancouver, British Columbia – Commodore Ballroom
11-30 Oakland, CA – The Fox Theatre
12-01 Los Angeles, CA – The Wiltern
12-02 San Diego, CA – The Observatory North Park
12-03 Phoenix, AZ – The Van Buren
12-05 Austin, TX – ACL Live at The Moody Theater
12-06 New Orleans, LA – Fillmore New Orleans
12-07 Dallas, TX – South Side Ballroom
12-09 Chicago, IL – Riviera Theatre
12-10 Saint Paul, MN – Palace Theatre
12-11 Madison, WI – The Sylvee
12-13 Washington, D.C. – 9:30 Club
12-15 Philadelphia, PA – The Fillmore Philadelphia
12-16 Boston, MA – Roadrunner
12-17 New York, NY – Terminal 5
