BY ROXANA HADADI

Also on the bill: Kaki King, Adam Ezra: Going into a Mountain Goats show with any expectations of what to hear is like asking someone to thumb through hundreds of songs - from a variety of different albums, rare releases, B-sides, whatever - and pick just about 20 to play. As in literally, totally, exactly like that.

So hearing John Darnielle and comrade Peter Hughes perform a variety of tracks from both latest album Heretic Pride and numerous other past releases at the 9:30 Club on Nov. 6 should have come as a surprise to few, if any, in attendance. From hipster anthem "This Year" to the less well-known "Transjordanian Blues" (which Darnielle himself had to stop partway through because he couldn't remember the lyrics), the Mountain Goats put together a solid setlist that shined mainly on Darnielle's talents.

Oh, and there was that 2001: A Space Odyssey-like tangent in the middle of their set. But first things first.

The night began with Adam Ezra, a Boston-based singer-songwriter who wasn't listed on the 9:30 Club's website before the show began but took the stage at about 8 p.m. anyway. Armed only with a guitar and harmonica, Ezra performed a few of his own songs - such as the political "Basement Song," which he explained as writing in his basement while angry at the world around him, and another from the point of view of a suicide bomber - and gave an impassioned cover of Jeff Buckley's "Hallelujah," helping to entertain the crowd before second opener Kaki King, who took the stage from 8:50 p.m. to a little before 10:15 p.m.

And what a tedious hour and a half it was - though King's fret-tapping style is unique, hearing it for song after song after song is misery-inducing. Couple that with her lack of stage presence and inability to interact with or captivate the crowd, and the time couldn't pass fast enough. Finally, at 10:35 p.m., Darnielle and Co. took the stage (not a moment too soon), and what subsequently unfolded would make us forgive and forget - well, almost - King's set.

Coming out to the sounds of "December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)" by The Four Seasons, the Mountain Goats then launched directly into "Have to Explode" from 2002's Tallahassee, with Darnielle delivering the pensive "I speak in smoke signals, and you answer in code/ The fuse will have to run out sometime/ Something here will eventually have to explode." Darnielle's songwriting may be exquisitely genuine and nuanced, but it's his voice - that indescribably appealing timbre and pitch - that is the backbone of the band, one that comes across exceptionally well both on recordings and during live performances.

To quote High Fidelity's Rob, they then kicked it up a notch with "Heretic Pride" (and the sing-alongs began with the line "I feel so proud to be alive") and "Pigs That Ran Straightaway into the Water, Triumph Of," the closer from 2004's We Shall Be Healed and one of the few songs Darnielle has written about his own life and experiences. Though recorded on the album with a full backing band, the song lost nothing when performed by just Darnielle, Hughes and drummer Jon Wurster - in fact, its sparseness helped create a bond with the audience that wouldn't let up the whole set through.

Next came "Moon Over Goldsboro" from 2006's Get Lonely, which the group performed with a sentimental, stripped-down feel that was almost painfully emotional. "Walking home, I was talking to you under my breath/ Saying things I would never say directly/ I heard a siren on the road highway ahead/ Kinda wish they'd come and get me/ Frost on the sidewalk, white as a bone/ Tried to get close to you again, always wake up alone," Darnielle sang in his infamous story-telling style. The intensity would continue with "New Zion" and "Our Love is a Powder Keg," and would only heighten when Hughes and Wurster left the stage seven songs in, leaving Darnielle on his own.

Darnielle began his time alone onstage with a gaffe: Forgetting the lyrics to "Transjordanian Blues." While addressing the crowd in his typical-yet-still-bizarre syncopated speaking voice, Darnielle admitted, "Last time I saw you people, I thought I was gonna die. But that was a rough tour." As a thanks, he decided to sing "Transjordanian Blues," a "song about hope and all that kind of stuff," but after not being able to remember the words, switched to a "totally different song" - "It Froze Me," from 1996's Nothing for Juice. He played the song before the completely silent, packed crowd, who only decided to make some noise when cheering, resoundingly, at its conclusion.

Next came "Thank You Mario But Our Princess is in Another Castle," which Darnielle prefaced with an outstanding intro: The song, according to Darnielle, is "infused with a sadness the world can barely contain," such as "Bo and Hope on Guiding Light ... You guys, please don't deny your great love!" Somewhere along the way, Darnielle then transitioned into how, when playing Super Mario Brothers, "you feel bad for killing [the mushrooms], because they seem so ignorant. ... But [the hammer-throwing villain], that guy is a motherfucker, you gotta be careful with that dude." His speech may not make any sense written down, but it did then, and was a great way to introduce the video-game-inspired track.

Nearly a dozen other songs followed, including a cover of Mary Chapin Carpenter's "Here I Am"; "Bring Our Curses Home," which Darnielle performed with King; "Mosquito Repellant," which the two wrote together; and a cover of Morrissey's "Suedehead." There was also that extended, super space-y version of "Supergenesis," which featured King, Hughes and Wurster, lots of distortion and echo effects and a dizzying light show. It ended with Darnielle, King and Hughes on their knees before the audience, seemingly standing guard over their otherworldly opus. Very bizarre, indeed.

Things got back to normal with "Sept. 15, 1983," the desperate-sounding "In the Craters on the Moon" (which included lots of shrieking on Darnielle's part) and "This Year," the crowd favorite that drew everyone's voices together in song. While most of the Mountain Goats' set dug too far into the corners of the band's discography for the crowd, "This Year" was a welcome, friendly diversion that helped transition into not just one, but two encores.

"There's no point in holding back now," Darnielle said before beginning "The Mess Inside," and he was right - not through that, "No Children" or "Going to Georgia" did the crowd stop singing-along or yelling exclamations of encouragement. Things only got more festive when Hughes congratulated the audience on President-elect Barack Obama (D) and his family, their new neighbors - "The last eight years sucked for us, and we didn't even have to live here," he added - and they continued that way during the band's second encore of "Dance Music" and "Houseguest."

By performing more than 20 songs from a number of different albums and releases, the Mountain Goats proved yet again why they're one of indie-rock's best, most un-pigeonhole-able live bands - and definitely one of the genre's most accomplished.

[Photos credit: Adam Fried]