MOF London - The Troxy

[aMillionDreams]

Too bad you didn't enjoy yourself.

Moving on...

[ALady]

Paulie, we are somewhat in the same boat (except that I knew going in that I didn't care for M. Ward or Conor  ;D so I'm fine with my decision to skip the MoF tour this time around).  

Though I thought Conor acquitted himself pretty well on the Philly broadcast (M. I can take or leave), I agree that they should have mixed up the sets a bit more; when either Conor or M. did a couple of their own songs in a row, the set tended to drag IMO.  

You can't help what you like!  ;)  

[BH]

I do apologize that I get overly defensive and fly off the handle sometimes.  It comes with my official fan boy badge.   ::)

But at the same time, I think people should expect some sort of back and forth when they write a post about a subject in a forum.  

It's all good.   Some of my greatest memories of childhood involved arguing with my best friend about whether Motley Crue or Ratt was the greatest band.

If Conor was 43 and sang the exact same stuff would that make a difference?  I'm honestly still trying to figure out what's false about him.

[Sparkle]

It's just too bad that Conor's "pretensioness" was sooo bad that Paulie actually left before he heard one of the greatest smokin' from shootin's that will ever be played.  That's all I'm saying.  

I'd have to say that was the highlight for me, damn I love that song!

[mjkoehler]

Paulie, we are somewhat in the same boat (except that I knew going in that I didn't care for M. Ward or Conor  ;D so I'm fine with my decision to skip the MoF tour this time around).  

I thought I was the only one...whew

I do apologize that I get overly defensive and fly off the handle sometimes.  It comes with my official fan boy badge.   ::)

I thought you were channeling Tracy....and we all know Ratt is the greatest! Any band that can throw the Milton Berle into a video like that is #1 in my book.  :P

[Sassbox]

Paulie, we are somewhat in the same boat (except that I knew going in that I didn't care for M. Ward or Conor  ;D so I'm fine with my decision to skip the MoF tour this time around).  

Tritto.  Or is it Quattro?  :P

[BH]

Where the hell is Ghosts? ;)

[el_chode]

Without seeing the NYC setlist (I haven't googled it yet though), is it safe to assume that the non-MOF, non-MMJ songs that everyone played on were Ward tunes? Because they really turned me onto Ward if so.

I don't understand the "lack of chemistry" issue, but I guess I'm most surprised that the show was full of Oberst fans more than anything else.

[Paulie_Walnuts]

I do apologize that I get overly defensive and fly off the handle sometimes.  It comes with my official fan boy badge.   ::)

But at the same time, I think people should expect some sort of back and forth when they write a post about a subject in a forum.  

It's all good.   Some of my greatest memories of childhood involved arguing with my best friend about whether Motley Crue or Ratt was the greatest band.

If Conor was 43 and sang the exact same stuff would that make a difference?  I'm honestly still trying to figure out what's false about him.

Absolutely! A bit of "back and forth" is exactly what I would expect, otherwise what's the point of posting on a forum?

You're right, labelling someone as false after hearing them play a few songs is pre-judging someone somewhat. However, first impressions are quite often correct in my experience. I suppose what I was getting at was that hearing a successful pop star singing quite amateurish poetry like a tortured teenager, at the age of 30 or whatever he is, felt a little bit fake or false to me. It didn't feel "real" to me. It felt like he was quite cleverly tapping into the psyche of "troubled" indie kids and making a mint in the process. And as someone else said, I found him quite annoying.

But yes, I realise I am judging him on that alone, and I am being quite general in my assumptions.

No need to apologise about the debate at all. Whenever I get passionate about a debate with my wife she always says, "Don't start that student shit with me!"

But Motley Crue.....now they are fake!  ;)

[dragonboy]

I thought Conor was excellent! The song with the line "since the operation I heard you're breathing just for one" (Lime Tree?) was one of the show's highlights for me.

He needs to lay off the cider though  ;)

[AMightyCaporal]

I thought Conor was excellent! The song with the line "since the operation I heard you're breathing just for one" (Lime Tree?) was one of the show's highlights for me.

He needs to lay off the cider though  ;)

yea it is Lime Tree- he nailed that song at  the United Palace Theater show as well

[goldenlady]

I saw these guys three time on this tour...and the one thing that keeps resonating with people on the forum is this impression that the shows are gonna be at the tempo of an MMJ show or just because JJ is in it that's going to be similiar to an MMJ show.  These are two completely different bands.  However when they played Smoking from Shooting I realized that Jim could play his songs with anyone and they would sound good.  You have to realize from listening to the album that these are all folk songs and not really rock songs.  So i'm suprised when people say that at times they were board.  I mean what did you expect, M. Ward is a folk singer and troubador.  JJ has a rock band but he has a folk soul as well.

Sorry for anyone who was disappointed becasue all three shows that I saw in my opinion were wonderful and even magical.  If you take away the idea of what Jim does in MMJ and just let him, M. Ward, Mogis, and Conor do their thing together (MOF) what they created as a whole.  The sum is greater than the indiviudal parts.

Personally, after seeing the shows I can't stop listening to the record and thinking how wonderful it was to see these guys together and what they created together.  Which is a deep and layered album and live performance.  Just seeing JJ playing the bass, keyboard, and signing at the same time was awsome.  Not to mention M. Ward's guitar playing.  He is in now way fake, false, or amiturish.  He is real and he is talented.

and Mogis on the pedal steel come on..he's the man behind the man behind the man with a mandolin too.  

You won't see anything like that again and it's something to be appreciated, even if it wasn't what you thought it was going to be like.

just my 2 cents

[boognish]

people just don't get it. either you do or you don't.

[st. john]

   guardian.co.uk Music Web
Monsters of FolkTroxy, London

Betty Clarke guardian.co.uk,

Thursday 19 November 2009 22.15 GMT Article historyIt's their first London show, and Monsters of Folk have found their spiritual home at the Troxy. "A temple of the roaring 20s painted in the colours of the roaring 80s," says Jim James, looking around appreciatively. "A collision of excess."

The notion of four indie stalwarts reinventing the country-rock supergroup is just as fantastic and almost as garish, yet the members of MoF are deadly serious about their new guise. Dressed in sober suits, Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis of Bright Eyes, M Ward and My Morning Jacket's Jim James (or Yim Yames as he now prefers) look like an eager bunch. They sound like newcomers too; the lush harmonies of Say Please, from MoF's eponymous debut album, are overshadowed by the squawking of Ward's out-of-tune guitar.

New axe in place, Ward and his cohorts, together with Will Johnson on drums, settle into what becomes a back-catalogue rifling, genre-spanning, three-hour set. The Bright Eyes track We Are Nowhere and It's Now sees Ward's raspy experience softening Oberst's intensity, before Ward plunders his own rich vein of insight on Vincent O'Brien. James coos through MMJ's Smokin From Shootin and Bermuda Highway, and gilds Oberst's passion on Lime Tree.

Obsert is the band's hearthrob, Mogis its technician, Ward provides louche charisma and James is the voice. Still, as the spotlight shifts from talent to talent, it's difficult to see MoF as a band. When they do come together for Dear God (Sincerely MoF), a brilliant combination of Portishead and the Traveling Wilburys, the result is stunning. But these individual titans need to sublimate their successes if they're going to bond.

[The DARK]

8. The Big Picture

Culprit identified. I'm sorry to all the fans of this song, but there's really no use for a slow, 8 minute, meandering ramble in this setlist, especially so early on. I'm sure it would work at his solo shows, but here it's just him and Mogis, and that means less Monster collaboration.

[BH]

They definately need to change the state of their successes without turning them into a liquid.

[Ghosts_on_TV]

Where the hell is Ghosts? ;)

just read this thread. I got your back.

[BH]

Where the hell is Ghosts? ;)

just read this thread. I got your back.

Well I'm glad I wasn't in real fight.  I've been lying in a ditch with two broken ribs bleeding out thru my face for several days now.   ;)