Modest Mouse mixes old with new

Washington rockers Modest Mouse traveled to Bloomington last Friday for one sweet concert. Playing Axis for the first time, the band did not disappoint. The band keeps increasing in size, though, now at five members. The band originally started as a trio. If they keep growing at this rate, the band will grow to P-Funk proportions in the next couple years. Coolly, the original drummer is now playing with the band again. \nTwo bands opened the show, Breaker! Breaker! and the Walkmen. Of course, in comparison to the Mouse, neither was anything to write home about. \nIsaac Brock, frontman of Modest Mouse, started the show by telling the crowd his game plan. Since the heat was intense inside Axis, the band decided to do just two sets. Although, time between sets was very brief -- the second half of the show might as well have been one long encore. Isaac said while on stage, "Air conditioning: we have the technology, we need to use it."\nThe quality of music remained consistent through the show's duration, much like it has throughout the band's career. It was a good mix of old material versus new. Of course, the newer, more popular songs were played ("Float On," "Ocean Breathes Salty," etc.), but fans of older material were able to hear songs like "Doin' the Cockroach" and "3rd Planet." However, fans of Modest Mouse's earliest material would have been disappointed, because there was nothing included from This a Long Drive for Someone With Nothing to Think About. This is most likely due to the fact there are seven people on stage now, and most of the early music was written for a trio.