The Mountain Goats, Megafaun charm packed Cat's Cradle crowd

All photos by Kevin Norris

Friday night brought a much anticipated show to the Cat's Cradle that sold out long before the date. It was none other that the double-bill featuring local heavyhitters The Mountain Goats and Megafaun.

The Mountain Goats were celebrating the release of their new album All Eternals Deck and a healthy dose of the 22-song set was pulled form the album. "Birth of the Serpents" was a particularly striking song, preceded by John Darnielle sharing that the song was written about an old friend that died.

The set featured a debut performance of the song "Rotten Stinking Mouthpiece,"which is on the cassette All Survivors Pack included with pre-orders of the new album.

Darnielle truly gets into the music, bounding around the stage like a kid playing his first guitar in his bedroom, especially during the song "There Will Be No Divorce."

The main set closed with a raucous version of "This Year" which included Megafaun and Mac McCaughan. All eight people on stage seemed to be thoroughly enjoying themselves, all sporting big smiles.

A four-song encored followed, featuring a rousing crowd singalong during "No Children." Phil and Brad Cook of Megafaun rejoined the Goats for a stellar performance of "The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton," leading the crowd in rousing chants of "hail satan!"

After leaving the stage for the second time, the band returned for one more song, the jaunty "California Song," before calling it a night. Darnielle mentioned that he was excited to get to sleep in his own bed that night before continuing the tour.

Local unclassifiable trio Megafaun opened the show with a stellar set as they always deliver. Old favorites "Beloved Binge" and "Lazy Suicide" were part of the set, which included a new song that will be released on the band's new album, due out in the fall.

Joe Westerlund took lead vocals on "Worried Mind" and "His Robe." He cruised around the stage at the close of the latter song like a demonic crooner. It was later mentioned that his parents were in the crowd and he said that you shouldn't be afraid to act crazy in front of your parents.

The set closed with "The Process," in which they said they were going to be joined by The Mountain Goats, who never appeared. I guess there was a hiccup in the planning there, but the performance was great without them.

The Mountain Goats set list
Liza Forever Minnelli
Southwood Plantation Road
Jeff Davis County Blues
Birth of Serpents
Estate Sale Sign
Rotten Stinking Mouthpiece
Family Happiness
Bad Priestess
There Will Be No Divorce
Outer Scorpion Squadron
Age of Kings
Prowl Great Cain
Dinu Lipatti's Bones
Broom People
Damn These Vampires
Never Quite Free
This Year (w/ Megafaun & Mac McCaughan)
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Woke Up New
No Children
Palmcorder Yajina
The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton (w/ Phil & Brad Cook)
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California Song

Megafaun set list
Beloved Binge
Carolina Days
(new song)
Volunteers
Worried Mind
His Robe
The Longest Day
Lazy Suicide
The Process

The Mountain Goats




Megafaun