portastatic.april.3.1997.nyc

mac came out onstage alone (with the fly new adidas i've been hearing
so much about).  i didn't know he wasn't going to be with the band.  (but
i guess it was a night of soloists; the mountain goats, who aren't usually
just one guy, but were tonight, went on after him).  he started with
"polaroid" and had a little techincal difficulties with the guitar amp or
something.  they got it fixed and mac said something like, "i won't play
that one again.  you get the idea, i think".  i didn't write anything
down, so i can't exactly remember the order, but it was something like,
"polaroid", "had", "taking you with me", "hurricane warning", "when you
crashed", "you know where to find me", "in the manner of anne frank", "san
andreas", "a cunning latch", "isn't that the way", "spying on the spys",
"naked pilsners" and probably a few others i missed.  well, no, now that i
think about it, that's nowhere near the order, but those are the songs.

i'd say it was a good show for the first half hour or so; mac has stage
presence enough to keep it going even though it's just him and a guitar.
after that (and once he started in on "hurricane warning" and "you know
where to find me") things started to get slow.  he even admitted that the
new songs are kind of empty with just acoustic guitar because he wrote
them on the piano.  and i was getting edgy for a band to kick in and rock
out.  but that's just me.  funny note of the show: so since it was just
him, the atmosphere was pretty laid back.  just about everyone was
sitting, some on the floor, some at tables eating bagels.  everybody was
pretty quiet. about halfway though mac said, "what, are you guys at
church?"

can't wait to see them in full force at mackrock...
matt.