The Mountain Goats at Sony Hall: 2026
The Mountain Goats (photo by Gus Philippas for FUV)
[Find the entire recap of "An Evening with The Mountain Goats and Molly Tuttle" here. Below is an edited excerpt:]
The Mountain Goats' singer, songwriter and guitarist John Darnielle and multi-instrumentalist Matt Douglas hadn't done a stripped-back duo show in about 18 months and their lack of rehearsal — by their own confession — became a charming foil. It brought a charming, quirky warmth to the set they did for November's "An Evening with The Mountain Goats and Molly Tuttle" at Sony Hall, a benefit for WFUV.
Notably, The Mountain Goats had just released a new album called Through This Fire Across from Peter Balkan, a title that Darnielle says arrived in a dream. Two songs from the album — "Rocks in the Pockets" (only the third time it was played live in concert) and "Broken to Begin With" — made the set, and Darnielle talked about the shipwreck story that sailed forth from his title, determined to be "cryptic, but not obscure."
In his patter, Darnielle made jump cuts between ideas and timelines, beat by beat. He brought the audience from the remote town of Colo, Iowa ("I lived at a train intersection"), where he battled burst pipes and mice in a remote house, taking a hard left turn to the drug-addled brilliance of outlaw country musicians like Merle Haggard ("a reactionary who doesn't want to be friends with other reactionaries") before segueing to Waylon Jennings. The final destination was "Waylon Jennings Live!" from 2019's In League with Dragons, delivered with gusto and plenty of head wagging from Darnielle.
As Douglas flipped between electric guitar, tenor sax, piano and keyboards (the latter especially pretty on 2006's "Song for Lonely Giants), Darnielle peppered his intros with tales of the late Ozzy Osbourne ("Song for Black Sabbath's Second North American Tour"), the challenges of obtaining life insurance ("Lakeside View Apartment Suite"), and Stan Ridgeway of Wall of Voodoo ("Bones Don't Rust"). In contrast to Tuttle's affectionate asides about her dad, Darnielle spoke somberly about his complicated relationship with his late stepfather, an abusive man who still gave Darnielle an entry into things he grew to love, like Mexican wrestling ("Southwestern Territory").
Darnielle and Douglas ended their set with "No Children" from 2002's Tallahasee. With its final missive — Darnielle yelping "I hope we both die" — the Mountain Goats departed, like errant soothsayers in a mythic American tale.
Watch videos of TK, TK and TK.
[Recorded:11/11/25. Engineered by Jim O'Hara, produced by Meghan Suma. Videographers:
