Read previous – Modest Mouse @ The Met
Photos and words by Rosi Lamela
It’s hard to believe that summer is finally coming our way and that this was my very first time seeing a show at The Stone Pony Summer Stage in Asbury Park. I’m going to be honest, my anxiety was through the roof when I realized I would be at the Jersey shore for the craziest time of the year (i.e., Memorial Day weekend), but I missed the last time Modest Mouse was in AP so I had little choice. They gave us an intense show and being able to smell the ocean at the same time made it a wonderful Saturday night and I forgot all my worries about crowds and parking.
I had the opportunity to go to the show with a good friend visiting with her partner who had never been to Jersey. Going down the shore, as us Bennys like to call it, is the best thing to do if you want to introduce someone to the Garden State. I did give this tourist an earful of how The Sopranos was filmed in the area I live in but after that we made our way towards the Atlantic Ocean.
I was in awe of The Summer Stage. I didn’t feel like I was standing in an asphalt lot and I loved the photo pit – the photographers in there with me were also really cool. The Cribs opened up and let the crowd know how excited they were to be performing at the beach. They played “I Don’t Know Who I Am”, “Men’s Needs” and “Come On, Be a No-One”. Their loud playing and vocals filled the air on what ended up being such a beautiful night with no rain which can be the norm on a typical Memorial Day weekend.
When I was in the pit waiting for Modest Mouse to come on stage, a few fans hailed me down to ask me a question. One guy asked, “How do you get to be in there and take photos?” I answered with a big smile as I felt a little emotional about this being my 4th year covering shows. I told him how I started writing and shooting and he promised to give us a follow.
Modest Mouse – AMAZING! They kept the energy high throughout the show but as the night went on it seemed to get more and more intense. Not sure how they pulled that off since they gave us a full 2-hour/20+ song set. They played older songs like “3rd Planet” and “Trailer Trash”. I was pretty pleased they played songs off my 2 favorite albums We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank and Good News For People Who Love Bad News such as “Missed Boat” and of course “Float On”. They came back with a 6-song encore and played my favorite song “Dramamine”. That was about the time I realized the asphalt was getting to my knees which I think I would have noticed earlier if the show wasn’t as engaging. This was an ideal show to catch in AP, especially for my first introduction to The Summer Stage.
Summer is finally here and we were introduced to it with a powerful performance and a few slices of Jersey Shore pizza from Gino’s in Belmar. With our bellies full we headed back up north with one of the best Memorial Day weekends in our memories. Keep scrolling to see more photos from the show.
