The Mountain Goats at First Avenue, Minneapolis (20 May 2022)

Will Sheff opened the show… He is the singer/songwriter of Okkervil River, who we saw in Nov 2013. Obviously comparing Sheff’s full band vs his solo live show is unfair, but, yes, Sheff’s solo shows is a little quieter. Still, Sheff managed to play Okkervil River using pre-recorded backing tracks and his guitar, and to good effect.

We did previously described Okkervil River’s songs as “depressing”: “Their songs, based on their lyrics and banter on stage, is quite depressing. We’re talking mostly death (shooting someone in the head), and hanging (suicide). With all this dark subject, it’s easy to see why they’ve chosen to cover Lou Reed’s “Satellite of Love”, a nice tribute to the musician who recently passed away. I suspect the song only made it into the set since last Sunday, but it sure sounded well-rehearsed.”



Another ‘depressing’ song made it onto his setlist, “Famous Tracheotomies.” This song, as Sheff described it, was when he was young, he almost died during this surgery. Obviously, he didn’t die, but would go on to write a song about other celebrities who had underwent tracheostomy operations.




The Mountain Goats (John Darnielle, Jon Wurster, Peter Hughes and Matt Douglas) was happy to be back on tour, after being locked down for two years. There was no new music, but having released three albums, fans were happy to hear those songs live.

Looking at their setlist, it was divided into three parts: a first normal section, a middle John Darnielle solo section of three songs (the last being a cover of Ralph Chaplin’s “Mourn Not The Dead”), followed by a finale section.



We previously saw the Goats in at Fletcher Opera Theater, Raleigh in Sept 2012 and said, “The Mountain Goats played two sets to a hushed crowd at the Fletcher Opera Theater on Friday, the second night of the Hopscotch Music Festival. The first set was a showcase of heavy metal songs, Darnielle solo in the spotlight on a large piano.”

Remaining tour dates: