Watching Jeff Mangum sing is entertainment enough. His unblinking eyes remain focused \u2014 even a bit crazed \u2014 in a fit of stern concentration. Sitting square at center stage, he snaps the words from his mouth in a chewing motion, biting the air in and spitting the words out. If you turned the volume to zero and simply watched his maw machinate, the price of admission would be well worth it.<\/p>\n
But this 40 Watt show was no silent movie, even if what happened on this night wasn\u2019t seen in these parts for quite some time. Mangum, the eloquent band leader of Neutral Milk Hotel and main creator of one of the finest albums to come out of Athens (or anywhere, for that matter), brought his eternal lyrics, eclectic voice, sense of good humor and snippets of horns, drums and accordions for a show too good to be believed. The capacity crowd, many of who had a personal tie with Mangum during his days in Athens, stood rapt as he wended through song after song in sterling fashion. When people weren\u2019t singing they were cheering, stopping only briefly to hold their breath at the magic unfolding before them.<\/p>\n
He opened the night with \u201cOh Comely,\u201d an eight-minute song which let him settle into the night and find rapport with the crowd, which up until his appearance was a nattering nuisance of Chatty Cathies (I felt for Andrew, Linda and Scott during their opening set). With its simmering build, rising crescendos and moments of quietude, \u201cOh Comely\u201d depicts it name. Stunning in the live setting.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis next song is about Holland,\u201d he noted before ripping into \u201cHolland, 1945,\u201d much to the delight of the crowd. \u201cEngine\u201d followed as did \u201cLittle Birds,\u201d a song \u201cI wrote over there on Grady Avenue\u201d he said pointing out toward the 40 Watt door. No doubt some in the crowd were witness to that process, nodding knowingly.<\/p>\n
\u201cGhost\u201d came next, a sturdy tune anchored near the end of In the Aeroplane Over the Sea<\/em>. It was this song where those long-time friends of his chipped in, as Scott Spillane (The Gerbils) and Laura Carter (Elf Power, Gerbils) entered stage left and added the horns that light the song about a haunted house.<\/p>\n The added element of horns took a high-powered show into another realm, nudging epic-ness (epic is a world I never, ever use, while epic-ness is not actually a word. I\u2019m in unfamiliar territory here).<\/p>\n \u201cKing of Carrot Flowers Pt. 1\u201d and \u201cPts. 2 & 3\u201d followed to near pandemonium. Anyone walking within 500 yards of the Watt would clearly hear \u201cI love you Jesus Christ\u201d erupting from the hall, leaving those who knew nothing of Mangum wondering if a midnight mass was in session (in a way, it was). \u201cNaomi\u201d and \u201cApril 8th\u201d gave way to \u201cTwo-Headed Boy, Part Two,\u201d one of the finest, sharpest songs ever written. This is one of my concert bucket list songs \u2014 those I treasure only hoping to one day see them performed live \u2014 and I say with not much prodding it might be the best live song I\u2019ve ever seen. And I\u2019ve been to a show or 2,000.<\/p>\n \u201cI might not be able to hear myself, but I don\u2019t give a fuck,\u201d Mangum laughed while kicking off \u201cTwo-Headed Boy\u201d (he was right, the audience participation was thunderous). \u201cThe Fool\u201d ended the set, complete with an oompa-band of Elephant 6 stars.<\/p>\n \u201cSong Against Sex\u201d led off the encore (the din between Mangum leaving the stage and returning never strayed beyond a clamorous roar), with \u201cGardenhead\/Leave Me Alone\u201d and \u201cIn the Aeroplane Over the Sea\u201d (of course) finishing the night. \u201cAeroplane\u201d is perhaps his best well-known song, but here it was almost anti-climactic \u2014 that\u2019s how good this night was.<\/p>\n I go to plenty of shows, sometimes with high expectations the band fails to meet, and I came to this show expecting a celebration on stage. I got it, and more. It\u2019s one of the finest musical moments I\u2019ve had the pleasure to see.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Watching Jeff Mangum sing is entertainment enough. His unblinking eyes remain focused \u2014 even a bit crazed \u2014 in a fit of stern concentration. Sitting square at center stage, he snaps the words from his mouth in a chewing motion, biting the air in and spitting the words out. If you turned the volume to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1081,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,28],"tags":[45,216,166],"class_list":["post-1080","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-concerts","category-feature","tag-40-watt","tag-jeff-mangum","tag-neutral-milk-hotel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1080"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1080\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1082,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1080\/revisions\/1082"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}