Modest Mouse Deliver Good Vibes and Birthday Wishes at New York’s Rooftop at Pier 17: Photos + Setlist

As Modest Mouse near the end of their fall tour in support of new album An Eraser and a Maze, Isaac Brock appears to be in a good mood. That led to a great concert on Thursday, October 8th in New York City, as the band took the skyline stage at The Rooftop at Pier 17 for a fun, relaxed show filled with cuts to please all sorts.

That’s saying something; Modest Mouse concerts are known to vary in quality and control, and given the band’s recent shakeup leading to guitarist Simon O’Connor being replaced by Les Savy Fav’s Seth Jabour, it’d warrant wondering how this tour would be fairing. Turns out, it’s fairing not just perfectly well, but kinda great. Brock was in a tiptop shape and spirits in NYC, bantering with the crowd and even deciding to add “Cowboy Dan” to the setlist because he liked the vibe of someone who asked nicely from the crowd. (FWIW, “Shit Luck” was listed as the closer on the setlist, and that’s where “Cowboy Dan” slotted in instead.)

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A particularly charming moment came as Brock suddenly remembered it was his dear friend’s 86th birthday, and he asked someone offstage to remind him to give Dave a call. After the next song, he got out his cellphone and instructed, “Hey Siri, call Dave.” He warmly apologized to the crowd: “Sorry to take your time with this, but he’s really important to me. I hope you live as long as this guy and are as productive — he helps me with projects, not the other way around.” It was sincerely goofy and utterly sincere — the fact that this guy was simply “Dave” in Brock’s phone — made all the better by Brock holding up the phone so the crowd could sing “Happy Birthday” on FaceTime only for Dave to clearly be pressing the phone against his ear and not seeing a second of it.

That was the feeling of the whole night: present, sweet, and chill. A setlist that included a little bit of everything (“King Rat,” “Talking Shit About a Pretty Sunset,” “Bury Me With it,” “Gravity Rides Everything, “Missed the Boat,” and a respectable six tracks from Eraser) gave fans of all the band’s eras something to sing along with, and Brock’s temperament kept the vibes right throughout the night.

Check out every song they played below, along with a photo gallery from the night. Get tickets to the rest of Modest Mouse’s upcoming tour dates here. Get Modest Mouse vinyl at the Consequence Store.

Modest Mouse at New York City’s The Rooftop at Pier 17, Oct. 8th, 2026 Setlist:

King Rat
Speak ’n Spell (Or Not)
Bury Me With It
Life Like Weeds
Absolutely Necessary Never
Broke
Gravity Rides Everything
Missed the Boat
Picking Dragons’ Pockets
The View
Dogbed in Heaven / Give It a Skeleton
Never Ending Math Equation
Trucker’s Atlas
Remember Yourself
Talking Shit About a Pretty Sunset
Ocean Breathes Salty
Encore:
March Into the Sea
Life’s a Dream
Black Cadillacs
Cowboy Dan