I mentioned before that it has been a dry season for live music around here of late so it felt good to hit up the Madhatter in Covington last night for the Bowerbirds and The Mountain Goats. As strange as this may sound to some of you, The Mountain Goats were on a shortlist of bands that I have yet to see that I really wanted to catch live, so getting to this one was pretty important.

First up, the Bowerbirds have a really humble quality about them, both in their stage presence and their music. I expect that the trio from Raleigh, North Carolina will continue to add new fans as a result and I know there were a handful or more that turned up last night just to see them. If you have not checked out their debut album, Hymns for a Dark Horse, do so asap.

John Darnielle and the two other Mountain Goats took the stage next and the 100 or so that made their way to the show got what they bargained for I think. John and his band started softly enough with a tune from Get Lonely in Wild Sage. The set took a turn upwards after that, at least in energy, as the band played a few more upbeat numbers.

I don’t have a setlist for you, and sometimes the names of Mountain Goats songs easily elude my memory but I do recall an excellent version of This Year, Lion’s Teeth and maybe the most fun song of the night in House Guest, which was the encore and closer. The song saw John take to the audience and even cradle a fans head close to him during the song, quite fun and captured in a photo as well.

So, you know the drill, if you get a chance to see The Mountain Goats live, and one of the truly talented songwriters out there in John Darnielle, do it. And oh yeah, John also has a kick ass blog if you somehow didn’t know.

More pics after the jump…..

View our photoset here…..