The Mountain Goats and Their Bleeding Hearts on Stage — Live at The Majestic

John Darnielle is a rock star, whether he wants to admit it or not. During songs and guitar acoustic guitar solos he flips his hair, runs across stage and jumps up and down. He controlled the atmosphere of the Majestic last Monday. The entire theatre was electric with the sounds of uptempo folk songs about flying whales, divorce and “the best death metal band in Denton.”

“An evening with The Mountain Goats,” occurred on a Monday night after everyone got off work. The crowd was restless, luckily it was only an hour from doors to showtime. The smokers area outside hosted a large group of characters, from all walks of life. The scent of tobacco and tar from Lucky Strikes and Malboros filled the air. Petitioners asking people to sign for the cause of ranked choice voting and tax levies.

I was initially surprised when there was not another band billed for the concert. However, there were no complaints from me when Darnielle walked on stage and started off with a banger of a track from “Full Force Galesburg.”

The band serenaded the audience with a myriad of tracks from a variety of their best records. “Dark in Here,” “Full Force Galesburg,” “Heretic Pride,” “The Sunset Tree” and “All Hail West Texas” contained some of the tracks found in the setlist. I found myself not knowing some of their deeper cuts, but when Darnielle played a solo setlist, the crowd was arguably the most tuned in to his emotions and his playing.

My favorite aspect of the show was the overall sound of the band and the venue’s acoustics. The Majestic’s ambience, combined with clean and wonderful sound work. The vocals and the instruments were super present in the mix and you could hear the songs from all the way across the venue. It was wholly and incredibly impressive.

The main set ended with “This Year,” a song from “The Sunset Tree” that went viral on TikTok and Youtube a few times. It was a fitting end to the main set, before the band came up again and played five more songs in the extended encore.

In the encore, the main centerpiece was “No Children," their most viral and popular song off of their record, “Tallahassee.” Everyone sang in harmony — about one of the most depressing song topics of all time. Divorce was in the air, but more importantly: a great time at The Majestic. A time where everyone united under the banner of truly monumental folk music.

The new album from The Mountain Goats, “Through This Fire Across From Peter Balkan,” is out November 7th.

Chelsea Bossert

Editor in Chief - The Oakland Post