I want to be in a supergroup: Review of Monsters of Folk show

Most things are not all shits and giggles. That’s probably why the phrase “It’s not all shits and giggles” got so popular. It’s wise, and wise phrases that include profanity tend to catch on (see: “Shit happens”). But after watching Monsters of Folk perform at Spreckles Theater on Tuesday night, I’m convinced that being in a supergroup is entirely shits and giggles. And nothing else.

From the moment they stepped onstage it was obvious that MoF (Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis from Bright Eyes, Jim James from My Morning Jacket and M.Ward from She and Him) were having a blast. They took turns joking to the crowd—James told a hilarious fabrication about the origins of Spreckles Theater that ended with “So this song is dedicated to John Spreckles and his empire of sugar”—traded verses and instruments, and rocked out to new interpretations of each others’ songs with a looseness that their other projects don’t often have. At one point Ward jumped up and down, pounding on a piano like Jerry Lee Lewis while Oberst (laying on the ground with a guitar) and James (almost straddling Oberst, also with a guitar), shredded and laughed and matched each other noodle-for-noodle. Yeah, it was a party.

The only problem was the pacing. There were a couple times when they followed an awesome face-melting extravaganza (like the one mentioned above) with a song that began with a sweet, stripped down, Jim James-led intro that sucked the energy out. Those intros would be fantastic in certain contexts, but I kept finding myself annoyed and waiting for the next loud part.

Mike Mogis once described the group in its early days as “the greatest Bright Eyes cover band in the world” and they were at their best on Tuesday when they were simply that. Their super-charged versions of “At the Bottom of Everything” and “Lime Tree” were highlights, and Jim James’ voice is such a great complement to Oberst’s, one kind of wishes the two would join forces to cover the entire Bright Eyes catalog.

Another highlight was a Conor Oberst song dedication. “This next song is dedicated to Rob Hagey,” he said, “who still owes me $41,000 for playing at Street Scene in August. You can just bring it out to my van later.” Considering the breach of contract lawsuits Rob Hagey is dealing with—as reported by Seth Combs in CityBeat this week—I don’t think he’s getting that money anytime soon. Oberst performed under his own name at Street Scene, by the way, not with Monsters of Folk. I wanted to clear that up because getting ripped off for $41,000 would pretty much disprove my shits-and-giggles-in-superbands theory.