Modest Mouse’s 2025 Summer Tour Floats On to Birmingham, Alabama
- wmts883
- 6 days ago
- 4 min read
By Andrew Pringle
On Wednesday June 18th, 2025, Modest Mouse and Doug Martsch arrived in Birmingham, AL for a night of full of fan favorites as well as fanatic-pleasing deep cuts. With a capacity of 2,800, brewery and outdoor music venue Avondale Brewing Co. hosted a nearly sold-out crowd of both long-time and first-time fans, all of whom were there for a memorable time, which was more than delivered.
As the evening sun was setting, Built to Spill founding member and frontman Doug Martsch took the stage, carrying his two acoustic guitars. Performing a solo acoustic set of six songs, the first two being from his 2002 solo album Now You Know, Doug mainly played stripped down renditions of Built to Spill classics. With an iconic voice that has remained consistent over three decades, Doug Martsch accurately preserved the raw nature of his music, which felt as fresh on an acoustic guitar as it did initially recorded using electric instruments. While being a prominent voice and household name in the alt/indie-rock genre, Doug performed with a mild level of shyness which was easily overpowered by his joy and gratitude for being able to share his music to people. Before leaving the stage, he sincerely thanked the audience for allowing him to perform to them, before picking up his guitars and leaving.
Despite creating some of the most wildly influential alt/indie-rock of the 1990s, it seemed as though a significant portion of the crowd was not familiar with Doug’s music and contributions to the genre. This led to the inconsiderate action of audience members loudly talking over his performance, which I also experienced three nights prior at the Chattanooga, TN show on this same tour. Fortunately for anyone who may have had an unpleasant experience with this, Built to Spill will be joining Modest Mouse on a number of stops during their upcoming Fall 2025 Tour.
Just as the summer sun had set, the lights went down, and the crowd cheered for the headliner- Modest Mouse. Hailing from Washington state, Modest Mouse has become one of the most reputable acts in the alt-rock scene, with a strong fan base well beyond the pacific northwest. With over thirty years of activity, seven studio albums, and six Eps, they have an expansive catalogue of songs to utilize, letting none go to waste. They opened their set with the nearly nine-minute epic “The Stars are Projectors”, a song which was added to their setlists in 2024 for the first time since last being performed in 2000. Immediately after, they went straight into the fan favorite “Dashboard”, a staple of mid-2000s alternative rock radio which guarantees the crowd to get moving. Other highlights of the show include “Teeth Like God’s Shoeshine”, the ripping opener track to their 1997 alt-rock cult masterpiece The Lonesome Crowded West. To which they immediately went into “Tiny Cities Made of Ashes”, a dark jam rooted in a grooving bass and drums, cynical lyrics, and dissonant guitar noises. They followed it with yet another deep cut, “Make Everyone Happy/Mechanical Birds”. Afterwards, singer and lead guitarist Isaac Brock explained that despite being one of their oldest songs, it was absent from their setlists for years due to the guitar solo requiring a technique in which he would bend the highest string over the side of the guitar neck, producing a ringing sound, which he admitted to being extremely painful to his fingers.
After a twelve-song set, they left the stage, only to return minutes later for a lengthy encore, containing seven songs. In those seven songs, they pulled out classics such as “The World at Large” and the Grammy nominated hit “Float On”; as well as rarities “Dance Hall”, “Night on the Sun”, and “Broke”. They also performed an unreleased song titled “Look How Far”, which made its debut on this tour and is expected to be on their next release that has been teased online, but has yet to be titled or given a release date.
By far one of the most special things about a Modest Mouse concert is the unpredictability of the setlist. Like stated before, they will pull songs from the deepest corners of their discography, but still play enough of their hits to satisfy the surface-level listeners. Furthermore, the band is prone to changing the setlist during the show. Five of the songs initially written on the paper setlist were switched during the show. Even “Float On”, the band’s most popular song, was a last second decision, not being written on the setlist at all. For this being my fifth Modest Mouse show, they continue to surprise me and leave me wanting more. Needless to say, I am already looking forward to the next time I get to see them.
I have to mention that there is a lot of debate on whether or not Modest Mouse is a good live band. As a massive fan of this group, I can honestly say that I can understand the criticisms they receive. As an indie/alt-rock band, by nature their music embraces a raw energy which never seeks to be polished and perfected. A majority of the complaints people have with them revolve around frontman Isaac Brock, such as him forgetting lyrics, having sloppy guitar techniques, not sounding exactly like he does in the studio recordings, and in many cases appearing to be drunk while performing. Being familiar with the band’s history, I can confirm they have had some pretty rough eras of live sound. On top of the previously stated issues with Brock, they’ve sometimes had too many members on stage at once, or even felt outright phoned in. However, I can confidently say that they are currently the best they have ever been live. The first two times I saw Modest Mouse was in 2022 before the legendary Jeremiah Green passed away. While I have very fond memories of those shows and being overall fun, having Damon Cox behind the drums has made a huge difference. Being a tighter band now, I would highly encourage anyone to add Modest Mouse to the list of must-see live bands, especially anyone who previously had a negative experience with seeing them live. Even for people who are on the fence about them as a band, seeing them live was the pivotal moment that sold me on them and solidified them as one of my all-time favorites.



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