2022-10-07 Ace of Spades
Isa Burke, John Darnielle, Matt Douglas, Peter Hughes, Jon Wurster
Setlist
Recording (Taper: Tape & Bake)
Banter
- JD: Peter, what if we, like, contrary to all my impulses did something with lighting? And then after 'dark in here' it went black and I said, yes, Peter, it's dark in here, and then we had, like, a thing? Remind me of this, I'm slightly vulnerable to the possibility.
Peter: I mean, we could do it now...
[crowd cheers]
Peter: I'm pretty sure these lights have switches.
JD: That would be so amazing if Peter had like, contracted with the lighting guy before this like, no, you will do a little banter, it will sound really real, and then I'll wave my hands and it'll go dark. None of that's going to happen. But this is a song about how I've got guys on every corner. It's, it's, it's called Guys On Every Corner. (Guys on Every Corner)
- Excuse me just a moment while I collect that if I launched into a song from Godspell the rest of my band would just have to wait. [audience: DAY BY DAY!!] It wasn't that, it was - [sings All For The Best, crowd claps along] For the staging, ok, I'll sing All For The Best and you guys take a break... [Isa tunes the violin, Wurster does drums] It's from Godspell, Peter, by Steven Schwartz. One of his biggest musicals.
Peter: I thought you said God Flesh, and I was. Very confused.
JD: No, it's not by Godflesh, it's not on Street Clear. (Jeff Davis County Blues)
- You know, there comes a time in every band's life where they have to play the Diaz Brothers. [Wurster counts off loud enough to be heard in the tape, band starts] This is a dance number! (The Diaz Brothers)
- [JD plays some piano chords, band leaves] I was playing a video game [cheering]. I love my job because, at most people's jobs, at most jobs I've worked, if I say, hey, I was playing a video game, I'd be standing there, before my shift at Beloit, a children's home I worked at, and if I show up at 6:45 and say, hey, guess what, I was playing the third Super Mario Brothers one, the one where, where it really feels like someone involved was taking drugs. The one that opens with people floating through space. And you pull up radishes to get hearts. Just like in real life. [laughter] But this was later, this was a game, it's what - once I start talking, if you needed to have a cigarette or something, you could go and come back, and I'd still not have come to my point. Some Japanese video games have very long plot setup segments, much longer than what I'm going to do here. It's page after page of dialogue screens, impossibly complex lore, you [woo!] - somebody who plays a lot of games like [piano stops] he talked about the lore. [cheering, laughter]I knew I had a friend in the lore. [piano resumes] Some of these dialogue screens get very emotional, especially if you happen to be an emotional person, especially if you happen to be at a certain place in your life. Where the reason you're playing video games 4 or 5 hours a day is to shut out the other stuff. [woo] This is a song that I did not put on The Life of the World To Come, but was written during that time, which was an extraordinarily hard time for me. (Enoch 18:14)
- [request from the crowd] Aw, I wish I knew how to play Etruscans. Etruscans is a fun song. No idea how that one goes. The version you know is the only time it was ever played. Which is how you know it's probably one of my best songs. THe best ones are the ones where you go, no, it's done there, I think, we'll never play that one anywhere. Wait wait wait, I like that tone. Say again? [someone yells something else, JD chastises them]. Yes? [audience member: Heel Turn 2!] By myself?!? [audience goes nuts affirmatively] Okay! [JD starts to play intro] Normally this is one of those dramatic live numbers with the whole band, a very long ending, that's not gonna be the case by myself. [intro continues] If you don't watch wrestling, that's okay. You don't have to watch anything you don't wanna watch. But a heel turn, if you don't know what it is, there's two kinds of people in wrestling. Faces and heels. Face is short for babyface. Does what it says on the tin. Babyface is beautiful. Everybody loves him. A heel, is on the back of your foot, it's dirty. It will kick you. Babyfaces do what they do, but every once in a while, they can't take it. And they turn heel.They usually do it in front of a camera. They get their money's worth. This is called Heel Turn 2. (Heel Turn 2)
- I wouldn't normally say that, I try to discourage debauched behavior, but I'd like to dedicate this to the drunkest person in the room. Don't do anything I wouldn't do. (Waylon Jennings Live!)
- (off mic) Yeah! I know that song! (on mic) Peter thought I had thrown this song out but I had not done that. Don't say yay! What if it's one you hate? (Dance Music)
- [audience yells something about coming back] Yes, sir, we will be back. [raucous cheers] This is a sold out show, so that sends a message to the band. [more cheering, drumming] That either there's a whole bunch of people I borrowed money from in 1998 who came to collect, or there's a whole bunch of people who want to hear the Mountain Goats. Or both. (Only One Way)
- There is an old friend in this room who knew me at the time documented in this song. So this is for you. (Hast Thou Considered the Tetrapod)
- [JD starts to play a David Bowie cover and the rest of the band slowly picks up/joins in] Nah, nah, I don't actually know that song. [band stops] There are some extraordinarily frustrated Bowie freaks out there right now. But I don't know the rest of the song. That's all I can do for you. And honestly, if I was gonna do one it would be Lady Grinning Soul. [crowd yells, band makes plans] (Training Montage)
- I'm working on a theory that when Donna Jean Godchaux gets out the tambourine, it means the band has something heavy to say. This is a song, you know, Peter, this is a song for the lovers in the house. [Peter laughs] For the dreamers. For the lovers, the dreamers, the betrayed, and the rejected. And the hopeless. The betrayed, rejected, hopeless, loving dreamers. I want you to look down inside your heart tonight, friends, and find the person toward whom you are still bitter, and invoke them as a visual hologram in your field like Princess Leia. Warning the others. Have them before your eyes and let's sing together. (No Children)
- At the end of the show, JD gave each member of the band a shoutout and concluded with "And I'm Yule Kibbins, and this is Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom."
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