Photos by Ty Hyten
The Scene: A sold out crowd packed the Ogden on Thursday night for indie music’s biggest smartass, Father John Misty. The audience was comprised of twenty and thirtysomethings, with a few black X’s floating around in the mix. Most of the fans were in good spirits and good natured, with the exception of a few “woooo” bros and a lovely woman meeting the description of the girl in “The Night Josh Tillman Came to Our Apartment” who made a point of making my return to my spot a nightmare.
Opener: King Tuff. Glam-rockers and labelmates, King Tuff, opened the show with an ear-splitting set full of over-the-top rock ‘n’ roll theatrics including smoke machine blasts and some erratic lights. The band’s music was in a much different vein than FJM’s, but their goofy stage presence was right on the mark. While the set was good for a few laughs, it wasn’t the type of music I had come to see and I felt like it kind of missed the mark on the audience.
Father John Misty: I usually don’t write about the experience of photographing a band, because it’s of little interest to non-photographers, but Thursday’s show is worth noting. Father John Misty’s management approved photo passes for more photographers than usual and then proceeded to make it nearly impossible to photograph him. Josh Tillman (aka Father John Misty) arrived on the stage backlit by a six foot tall neon heart that read “No Photography” and played the first three songs in near darkness. The only usable photos came from brief moments of white light from a floor lamp. I know Tillman has an adversarial relationship with amatuer photography during his shows, but Thursday it seemed that he had extended that to the media as well. Tillman, who is often sarcastic and abrasive on stage was seeming to make a statement, though I’m not sure exactly what it was. Did he want to generate blog buzz? Hard to say, but as the large line of photographers left the pit after three songs, the stage lit up and Tillman and his six piece band came into clear view.
Despite the f-you to the photographers, the rest of the show played out fantastically. Father John Misty’s music stands alone as excellent, genre-defying, humorous, well written poetry, but seeing it live is a completely separate and equally wonderful thing to experience. I have seen him live five times prior, and his snide comments to unruly fans, wild, effeminate dance moves, and sarcastic stage banter left as much of an impression as the music. There was a definite change in Tillman that I saw on Thursday. The dance moves were still there, as were the lunges into the crowd, but it lacked the same fervor. Comments between songs were kept to a minimum and he didn’t make an effort to roast any obnoxious fans. I’m guessing the absence of his usual cup of liquor at his feet had something to do with it. Upon watching him greet fans after the show, it was clear, at least for the evening, he wasn’t at his usual level of intoxication for a show.
If you didn’t come in with expectations set by seeing a wilder version of him, I’m sure you would have been completely satisfied with the show. Tillman paced the stage was the grace of a seasoned Vegas crooner and his flawless vocal sat atop the mix. In tours past, his band was a huge part of my memories of the show. Twangy, blistering leads and a rock ‘n’ roll experience. Tillman has since replaced most, if not all, of last tour’s band and the new band kind of exists in background, created a soundtrack for him to sing over. The result is a well polished sound, but some of my favorite parts of songs from Fear Fun were completely missing. Most noteworthy were the missing or rewritten lead guitar parts on songs like “I’m Writing a Novel”. It wasn’t completely clear from my vantage point if they were present and just lost in the mix or if Tillman had opted for a different presentation.
The night was a near equal mix of songs from both Fear Fun and his newer masterpiece, I Love You, Honeybear. He opened the set with a three song run from the latter and despite the material being somewhat new, the crowd was just as excited as when the older songs were played thereafter. The comical lyrics were clearly distinguishable throughout the show, which made for some laughs on songs like “Nothing Good Ever Happens at the Goddamn Thirsty Crow” and “Now I’m Learning to Love the War.” It’s hard to single out highlights, as the show was consistently good from start to finish, but a well chosen encore was definitely one of them. The night ended with “Bored in the USA,” in which he grabbed a fan’s phone and recorded a video of himself, a cover of Leonard Cohen’s “I’m Your Man,” and finally one my favorites, “Everyman Needs a Companion” ending with tossing this guitar to the floor and twirling about. After the show, he stuck around for fifteen minutes, shaking hands with fans across the barricade. Though the Josh Tillman we saw on Thursday night was a bit more mellow than years past, he still delivered musically and put on an outstanding show.
Energy: A
Musicianship: A
Sound: A
Stage Presence: A
Set/Light Show: D
Overall: A-
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