Live Review: The Mountain Goats @ The Forum, Melbourne

The Mountain Goats

To paraphrase the famed aphorism 'there's no atheists in foxholes', there are no casual fans in the Mountain Goats’ audience.

No matter where you look in the band’s crowd, even the most fresh-faced newcomers are still devout lovers of their more popular albums and songs, while they effortlessly sit alongside those who gladly eschew crystal-clear sound quality of the latter-period output for the project's earlier, lo-fi boombox releases.

There are those who will impart years of intimate knowledge by discouraging nascent attendees from loudly requesting fan favourites such as Going To Georgia and Golden Boy, and then there are the hardcore fans – those who ink their skin with the band's lyrics, champion unreleased deep cuts like The Doll Song and Letter From A Motel, and loudly debate their favourite bootleg as the stage lights lower.

(Since this writer is someone who definitely falls into the latter category, an acceptable answer to the bootleg question is the January 1999 performance from North Carolina's Cat's Cradle.)

All of this is to say, however, a live show from the Mountain Goats brings together a vivid cross-section of musical fanaticism, operating together in harmony to breathe in an experience like no other.

For the uninitiated, the Mountain Goats officially emerged in California back in 1991, the musical project of then-nurse John Darnielle. 

A folky, guitar-led outlet from the unabashed metalhead, the Mountain Goats' early years were earmarked by myriad releases recorded on Darnielle's trusty Panasonic boombox, with a fluid line-up of collaborators peppering the vinyl, cassette, and CD sleeves over the years.

By 2002, professional studios had become a staple for the band, with Darnielle's literate, poetic lyrics of flawed characters, doomed relationships, and travelling to new horizons reaching wider audiences.

The full-band format has now made up the lion's share of the project's lifetime, with Darnielle being joined by former Superchunk drummer Jon Wurster since 2007 and multi-instrumentalist Matt Douglas since 2015. Sadly, longtime bassist Peter Hughes ended his tenure with the group in 2024.

A frequent staple of Australian stages, the Mountain Goats' last visit to Australia took place in 2017 off the back of their Goths album. The near-decade since has arguably been one of their most prolific periods, with seven studio albums being released.

The most recent of these, Through This Fire Across From Peter Balkan, arrived in November as the group's 23rd record. Featuring backing instrumentation from the likes of award-winning playwright Lin-Manuel Miranda and The Replacements' Tommy Stinson, the "full-on musical" is an intriguing piece of work that ultimately touches on Darnielle's perennial focus of overcoming and staying alive.

However, the most vital component of this record was the accompanying Australian tour which came with its release, allowing the band to return to local stages for the first time in nine years.

For the penultimate date of their tour, in Melbourne, the group eschewed their usual haunt of The Corner Hotel for the grandiose setting of The Forum – a venue seemingly custom-built to house the band's eloquent compositions.

At the bottom of the bill was hometown hero Milly Strange, who took to the stage armed with a three-piece band that commanded the audience's attention for their scheduled half-hour.

Armed with a selection of cuts which paired introspective lyrics with slow-burning choruses, Strange's inclusion on the line-up was far from it with these soaring, emotional cuts winning over anyone who was just discovering her music for the first time.

Capping off the all-too short set with The Last Time, a false start to necessitate proper capo placement brought with it a tremendous closer, indicating that the evening was off to a cracking start.

In fact, one of the night's biggest fans of Strange was Darnielle himself, who later quipped "If you skipped the opening act tonight, you fucked up."

Adding that they get his "goth seal of approval," that was clearly an underlying theme for the evening, given that the Mountain Goats then appeared before the audience, with rapturous applause cutting through the PA's dutiful broadcasting of The Birthday Party's Release The Bats. 

Diving into Rocks In My Pocket from their latest album, all and sundry were immediately reminded of what makes the Mountain Goats such a powerful experience.

It's not just Darnielle's intense command of the stage, his accomplished musicianship, or the full-band experience, but rather, a culmination of it all – allowing each and every member of the audience to hang onto every word as if it were written specifically for them.

Indeed, such is the mesmeric power of the Mountain Goats that hardly a single phone could be seen in the crowd, with everyone either transfixed by what they were seeing, or intent on eschewing digital commemoration in favour of breathing in the experience at hand.

Providing a quick introduction by way of the standard, "Hi, we're the Mountain Goats," from there, it was a whirlwind of emotion and energy. Providing only the second airing of new track Shallow Grave, cuts from 2006's Get Lonely were interspersed with an unexpected showing of Michael Myers Resplendent, and the ever-impactful Your Belgian Things.

As Darnielle kept the audience in the palm of his hand, moving about the stage and appearing to be having the most fun of the night, the dizzyingly-talented Douglas showcased his deftness on guitar, keys, and saxophone ("I love you, saxman!" shouted one audience member), while the sharply-dressed Wurster kept the beat as only he can, mouthing each hit and ending each track with an enthusiastic smile. 

With his bandmates taking their leave briefly, the standard solo set saw Darnielle dip into his back catalogue to deliver acoustic renditions of Song For An Old Friend, The Mess Inside, the seldom-heard Song For My Stepfather, and the recent favourite, Younger.

With much of the back half of the set being loaded with latter-period compositions, it was as the end came in sight that the fan-favourites returned and the energy lifted to fever pitch.

The powerful See America Right (Darnielle now takes on the howl traditionally offered by Hughes) was complemented by the jubilant singalong of Sax Rohmer #1, before the venue reached the loudest it has likely been in months with the stomping This Year. 

The briefest of encore breaks saw the group return for a four-song nightcap which offered the likes of You Or Your Memory, Psalms 40:2, and Amy AKA Spent Gladiator 1.

However, it was the final song of the night that presented the opportunity for some of the loudest, most enthusiastic singalongs imaginable.

It's somewhat strange to think that Darnielle's 2002 divorce anthem No Children didn't quite catch fire right away, given the reception it commands today, Instead, it took roughly five years for the track to earn a prominent place within the regular set.

By contrast, it took all of about five seconds for the evening's crowd to begin chanting each and every lyric back to the band. Sure, it might be a little jarring to hear roughly 2,000 music-lovers scream the line, "I hope you die, I hope we both die," with a smile on their faces, but again, such is the almost paradoxical power of the Mountain Goats.

Though the energy of the larger show was far different to the more intimate gigs the Mountain Goats have offered up on recent visits, the impact of the experience in no way suffered, simply providing an opportunity for a louder chorus of fans, and a greater mass of souls comforted by the music of Darnielle and co.

For newcomers, diehards, and everyone in between, this was a night of catharsis, of unification, and of musical community. It was an evening which brought together those who sang the songs back for every possible reason, and an event which saw even the most cursory of admirers leave as devotees.

While Darnielle admits it had been far too long between visits for the band, here's hoping the promise of a quicker return holds true, because there's a couple of thousand souls in Melbourne clearly ready to repeat that experience as soon as possible.