Let’s all have another Orange Julius. Modest Mouse is dusting off its classic 1997 album, The Lonesome Crowded West, for a tour this fall, celebrating the record’s 25th anniversary. And yes, this is big news for your flannel-wearing, indie-loving friends. Modest Mouse doesn’t tend to play many songs off of LCW these days, even if it’s one of the best albums of the ’90s and a portrait of how weird and ambitious the band was before its breakout years later with songs like “Float On.” (To be fair, it’s still pretty weird and ambitious; the band’s last album, The Golden Casket, has songs about technological-surveillance conspiracy theories and was made with weird synthesizer experiments.)
To honor its original 1997 album, Modest Mouse will cut down its ever-growing live lineup to a four-piece for the tour, with LCW singer-guitarist Isaac Brock and drummer Jeremiah Green touring alongside bassist Russell Higbee and guitarist Simon O’Connor. There’s no word on whether they’re actually playing the album in full, as the band nearly did for a hometown show in December — save for “Lounge (Closing Time),” which Brock told the crowd they couldn’t fully rehearse because “it’s a fucking hard song.” The 20-date tour (dates below) starts the day of the album’s anniversary, on November 18, in Missoula, Montana, and ends on December 17 in New York. Sadly, that’s still more than two months away, but tickets go on sale on September 9. The years go fast, but the days go so slow.
November 18: Missoula, MT — The Wilma
November 19: Spokane, WA — Knitting Factory
November 21: Seattle, WA — The Showbox
November 22: Seattle, WA — The Showbox
November 25: Portland, OR — Crystal Ballroom
November 27: Vancouver, BC — Commodore Ballroom
November 30: Oakland, CA — The Fox Theater
December 1: Los Angeles, CA — The Wiltern
December 2: San Diego, CA — The Observatory North Park
December 3: Phoenix, AZ — The Van Buren
December 5: Austin, TX — ACL Live at The Moody Theater
December 6: New Orleans, LA — Fillmore New Orleans
December 7: Dallas, TX — South Side Ballroom
December 9: Chicago, IL — The Riviera Theatre
December 10: St. Paul, MN — The Palace Theatre
December 11: Madison, WI — The Sylvee
December 13: Washington, D.C. — 9:30 Club
December 15: Philadelphia, PA — The Fillmore Philadelphia
December 16: Boston, MA — Roadrunner
December 17: New York, NY — Terminal 5
