Review: Modest Mouse Brings Deep Cuts to Intimate Miami Show

Like any band that has been around for over three decades, Modest Mouse has undergone many iterations. They started out as a tight indie rock trio, then found their greatest success in the mid-2000’s when they expanded into a huge mob with a fiddle, upright bass, and horns. Now, as they’re set to embark on their first-ever Modest Mouse cruise departing this week from the Port of Miami, they decided to split the difference with a six-member ensemble that took the stage Tuesday night for the first of two relatively intimate sold-out shows at ZeyZey.

The throughline for Modest Mouse, since they started thirty-odd years ago in Issaquah, Washington, is the manic nonstop energy of frontman Isaac Brock. Clad in a yellow trucker’s hat, he started his hollering in fine form promptly at nine when he pulled out a bullhorn to scream/sing the opening lines of “March into the Sea”. It was amazing how many nautical-themed songs they could pull out in “Missed the Boat”, “the Whale Song”, and “Barnacles”, while perhaps still saving “Ocean Breathes Salty” and “Dramamine” for the cruise. When they took a short break, leaving the stage midway through the set, they even had the loudspeaker play the Jaws theme song.

This was a show (or a dress rehearsal, as Brock called it a few songs in) for Modest Mouse obsessives as they pulled out a lot of deep cuts through the two-hour, twenty-one-song set, including a pair of songs in “Barnacles” and “Things I Don’t Remember” from the Brock side project Ugly Casanova. 

They got their biggest hit, “Float On,” out of the way five songs into the night, with a cruise-ship-fitting emphasis on the steel drums, giving the most positive of their tracks a calypso-Caribbean feel.  They avoided performing their second most well-known song, “Dashboard”, entirely. It’ll be interesting to see if they play a completely different set on Wednesday night at ZeyZey, as one would think they’d need a wide variety of songs for the captive audience who will be cruising to the Dominican Republic with them.

Even if they do play the same exact show on Wednesday night for those with disposable incomes, it’d be worth returning for a band that last played our corner of the globe back in 2021. Also noteworthy, this was Modest Mouse’s first South Florida show since the death of their original drummer, Jeremiah Green, in 2022. Perhaps to make up for Green’s absence, there were two drummers manning a pair of different drum kits. There were also a guitarist, a bassist, and a multi-instrumentalist who took the stage. One of the highlights was adding a trumpet to “Spitting Venom” to jazz it up. For further instrumental variety, Brock plucked on a banjo while accompanied by an upright bass for the crowd-pleasing cynicism of “Bukowski”.

The night started early, a little before 8 p.m., with Mattress, which, like Modest Mouse, is based in Portland, Oregon. Despite their geographic similarity, Mattress couldn’t be more different from Modest Mouse. Mattress is a one-man act who seems more suited to a cruise ship, with his kitschy lounge-singer persona. Wrapped in a gold sequined robe, Mattress danced and shouted, seeming random lyrics about granola and M&M’s. But the audience was kind to him, as they anticipated one of the most beloved indie rock institutions that never disappoints.