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Live Recap: Father John Misty at Riverside Theater
On Monday October 3rd, Father John Misty made his grand return to Milwaukee for his first show there since June of 2019 (then at the BMO Harris Pavilion) and his first indoor show there since he played The Pabst back in September of 2018. Taking the stage of the Riverside Theater for the first time on a chilly early October night the seasonal winds of change not only brought Josh Tillman and his band back sounding better than ever, but also with a setlist filled with surprises and some rarely played gems among the 22-song set. Among these songs were six new “fake-jazz” (his words) tracks from his new album Chloë and the Next 20th Century, which he reminded us was music made during the pandemic and songs he never thought would be tour-able. Among these tracks were opener “Q4,” the breezy “Goodbye Mr. Blue,” the lush, old-Hollywood “Funny Girl” and the 20’s rag-time bop “Chloë.”
Throughout the evening many classic Father John Misty favorites were on display, from the crowd-pleasing “Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings” and up-tempo “Total Entertainment Forever” to the soaring and feels-inducing “Chateau Lobby #4 (in C for Two Virgins).” Also on display was the distinctive stage presence Josh Tillman is known for as he bantered with the audience, at one point asking if anyone had recently lost a pet. After an audience member gave a brief remembrance of their departed, Tillman dead-panned, “well, I can empathize. I too recently lost a fictional cat…” in reference to the narrative of “Mr. Blue.”
As the band settled into the stage and with the audience fully along for the ride, the night started to take some surprising turns. Early on, for example, the infrequently played “The Night Josh Tillman Came to Our Apt.” made a welcome appearance. Then midway through the set, Tillman proclaimed, “this is going well, I think. Now let’s do something very misguided and reckless and derail the evening” as the band started to play somber rarity “The Memo” from 2017’s Pure Comedy to this reviewer’s pure delight. The surprises didn’t end there however as late in the set we got a half-title track “The Next 20th Century” (sparingly played so far on this leg of the tour) which brought a completely different flavor to the repertoire, which its verbose spoken-word verses over sparse instrumentation interrupted by a thunderous, wall-of-sound interlude set against a stark black-and-white stage. This stunner was then followed up with another: the magnificent, soaring and cathartic “In Twenty Years or So.”
This was one of those nights that serves to remind us why we love live music. From the buoyant presence of an immense talent on stage to the marvelous sound of a room like the Riverside Theatre to the unexpected appearances of deep-cuts and rarities, this is one of those shows that just HIT on every level, with artist and audience fully engaged and feeding off each other. Upon taking the stage again for his four-song encore, Tillman remarked, “after playing for weeks with a very well-tuned and tight set, we decided to change it up a bit tonight. We knew you could handle it.” The buzz and excitement in the lobby after the show confirmed it.
Check out photos of the evening below, and see where you can catch the tour next here.