{"id":961,"date":"2013-10-27T20:48:00","date_gmt":"2013-10-27T20:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/?p=961"},"modified":"2026-06-27T20:50:45","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T20:50:45","slug":"neutral-milk-hotel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/?p=961","title":{"rendered":"Neutral Milk Hotel"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

October 2013, 40 Watt, Athens, Ga.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wild hair flowed in all directions from underneath his baseball cap, joining the sizable beard pushing full from his face. His eyes, usually distinct, were shaded by the cap\u2019s brim.<\/p>\n

Under different circumstances, the man would be unrecognizable.<\/p>\n

But there was the guitar. Then the chords. And the voice. When his opening words \u201cTwo-Headed Boy\u201d erupted from the stage, there was nothing mysterious about the man who hides himself from the world, certainly not to this crowd. By the time the song moved to \u201cThe Fool\u201d \u2014 a calamitous joy of accordions, horns and drums \u2014 a revival 15 years in the making was in full force. As the applause settled, a distinct cry came from the din.<\/p>\n

\u201cWelcome home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed.<\/p>\n

Yes, Neutral Milk Hotel\u2019s return to the 40 Watt was a stunning show of exceeded expectations, but really, that misses the point. The night proved transformative and shocking \u2014 like witnessing a comet explode in the ocean. There was a sense at times it wasn\u2019t real \u2014 when the lights dimmed to denote the show was starting, nothing happened for a couple of minutes. The crowd stirred noisily in anticipation, until Jeff Mangum walked quietly on stage to a wall of sound.<\/p>\n

I guess you figure after 15 years, what\u2019s another five minutes.<\/p>\n

I saw Mangum in early 2012 for a solo show at the Watt, joined ever so briefly by Laura Carter and Scott Spillane on horn duty. It was great, but nothing like this. Having the band together was electric \u2014 the addition of Julian Koster and Jeremy Barnes brought a pulsing life to each tune. \u201cHolland, 1945\u201d is a fine song solo on acoustic, but with the pounding bass, overt horns and driving drums, it\u2019s a racing heart attack of sound.<\/p>\n

The setlist would take liberally from both In the Aeroplane Over the Sea<\/em> and On Avery Island<\/em> \u2014 though Aeroplane<\/em> songs were met with more enthusiasm. Yet hearing \u201cA Baby for Pree,\u201d \u201cGardenhead\/Leave Me Alone\u201d and \u201cSong Against Sex\u201d from Avery Island<\/em> were a treat \u2014 these are not the live songs one finds easily on YouTube clips.<\/p>\n

Of course, there are few musical moments as entrancing as hearing a packed barroom of people yell \u201cI love you Jesus Christ\u201d near the midnight hour. Or seeing Koster master the singing saw during \u201cIn the Aeroplane Over the Sea,\u201d which no one can convince me isn\u2019t one of the finest songs ever made.<\/p>\n

On his own, Mangum captivated as well. \u201cOh Comely,\u201d an eight-minute opus of rising and falling tempos, proved a show-stopper, as the song\u2019s quiet moments brought the usual noisy Watt into stern attention.<\/p>\n

The encore exploded with Aeroplane\u2019s<\/em> \u201cGhost\u201d and \u201c[untitled]\u201d before it was Mangum left alone for \u201cTwo-Headed Boy, Part Two,\u201d a song I could see live on a constant loop and never grow tired. Koster, Spillane and Barnes returned to join Mangum for \u201cEngine,\u201d the 7-inch B-side of \u201cHolland, 1945\u201d for the night\u2019s final song. \u201cOne more song,\u201d said Spillane. \u201cIt\u2019s the 40 Watt.\u201d<\/p>\n

Never much one to talk, Mangum was engaged probably more than he\u2019s ever been while gracing the 40 Watt stage. Following \u201cKing of Carrot Flowers, Pts. 2 & 3,\u201d he looked out in wonder. \u201cYou guys are really blowing our minds,\u201d he said. \u201cThanks so much for coming out.\u201d Right back at you Jeff. And next time there\u2019s no need to wait so long.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

October 2013, 40 Watt, Athens, Ga. Wild hair flowed in all directions from underneath his baseball cap, joining the sizable beard pushing full from his face. His eyes, usually distinct, were shaded by the cap\u2019s brim. Under different circumstances, the man would be unrecognizable. But there was the guitar. Then the chords. And the voice. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":962,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[45,166],"class_list":["post-961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-concerts","tag-40-watt","tag-neutral-milk-hotel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/961","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=961"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/961\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":963,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/961\/revisions\/963"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}