The Mountain Goats played NYC’s Rooftop at Pier 17 – 7/31

John Darnielle’s Mountain Goats hosted a rooftop party for the New York date on their summer tour.

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As you might’ve read, I spent part of the final week of last month in New York, drawn by the magnetic pull of a rare set by The Clientele. Upon realizing their labelmates The Mountain Goats would be in town the following night at another venue I’d wanted to scope out, figured we might as well make it a double feature.

Pier 17 – a maze of escalators and beer sponsorships which eventually does take you to a rooftop concert space – is maybe not the first place you’d think of as a natural fit for a somewhat bookish singer/songwriter band. But it’s easy to forget sometimes how much of a proper band The Mountain Goats have turned into over the years. Boasting a fifth member (guitarist/violinist Isa Burke) in addition to multi-instrumentalist Matt Douglas and the rhythm section of Peter Hughes and Jon Wurster, Darnielle’s Goats are a long way from the project’s minimalist roots, and they employed all sonic resources during a rollicking set of new-era songs, fan-favorites and rarities.

With skyline views and the Brooklyn Bridge as a backdrop, the Rooftop really did add something to gig – even as lightning in the distance threatened to cut things short. The storm held off though, allowing the full encore treatment to include a highly-entertaining segue between a snippet of Lee Ann Womack’s schmaltzy early ‘oos country hit “I Hope You Dance” and “No Children,” the infamously bitter TMG classic written partially as a response to it. Darnielle even called an audible to end the show by running it back to spirited set-opener “The Legend of Chavo Guerrero,” a song so fun you’ve gotta play it twice.

Naturally, the buzz of the gig proved a little bittersweet with last week’s news that bassist Hughes – the longest-tenured of Darnielle’s bandmates by a sizable margin – would be stepping down from his post, making this among his last shows with the band. All the more reason I’m glad to have been there.

Scroll for a gallery from the evening below.