The Mountain Goats @ Farm Sanctuary, Watkins Glen, NY

June 21, 2007

A review by Robert Palazzo

On Sunday (June 17, 2007) I was one of the 200 lucky enough to attend The Mountain Goats benefit concert for Farm Sanctuary entitled Zoop!. Farm Sanctuary is an amazing non-profit organization that has been rescuing farm animals since 1986. For more information about this amazing organization you can visit their website.

Zoop! was a benefit show that John Darnielle planned a few months ago, and after a lot of hard work the pay off was huge. People from as far as Illinois to Ireland made the trip to Watkins Glen, NY. The festivities began Saturday night as Perry Wright from The Prayers and Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers and Peter Hughes of The Mountain Goats kicked things off. This was followed by a solo set from John Darnielle.

On Sunday night, John Darnielle played an all request set that was organized via The Mountain Goats message board. The 22 song set consisted of mostly B-sides and rarities, but somehow everyone in the crowd still seemed to know the words. For a couple of the songs John had to use lyrics sheets as a reference along with a little help from the crowd. The regular set ended with John’s crowd pleasing sing-along of Ace of Bass’ song “The Sign” (probably for the last time ever due to John’s hatred of playing the cover), “If You See Light” from Get Lonely, and finally the “Cobscook Bay”. He then came out for two encores because the crowd would just not let down, and finally the set ended.

The real beauty of the whole event was that everyone was so respectful to the farm, and the entire farm staff was so welcoming. I was lucky enough to conduct an interview with John about the event for my college radio station 88.9 FM WNYO. The full text from the interview will be up soon on the station website within the next few days. In the interview he talks about how he became involved with Farm Sanctuary, the typical Mountain Goats fan, and shares some information about the upcoming album.

Below are set lists from both shows courtesy of The Mountain Goats message board:

Saturday- June 16, 2007
One Fine Day
Old College Try
Hot Garden Stomp
Baboon
No Children
Going To Georgia
Shadow Song
Get Lonely
Keeping House
Big Yellow Coat
You Or Your Memory
Love Cuts The Strings
Alpha Gelida
Song For An Old Friend
The Mess Inside
Houseguest
Terror Song
Pigs That Ran Straightaway Into The Water, Triumph Of

Sunday – June 17, 2007
Jenny
Alpha Rats Nest
Insurance Fraud #2
Alibi
Attention All Pickpockets
Standard Bitter Love Song #1
Weekend In Western Illinois
Minnesota
Store
Cao Dai Blowout
Chanson du Bon Chose
Going To Scotland
Leaving Home
Distant Stations
The Alphonse Mambo
The Monkey Song
The Sign
If You See Light
Cobscook Bay
Solomon Revisited
Red River Valley
California Song