The Mountain Goats Cover Styx’s “Babe” at Lollapalooza

Posted by Ray Padgett at 11:00 am Add comments

Aug 082011

The Mountain Goats - John Darnielle, Peter Hughes, Jon Wurster, December 2010.

Though they’ve been around since the very beginning of Lollapalooza 20 years ago, the Mountain Goats played the fest for the first time on Saturday. Ever ones to seize the moment, they performed a new cover in honor of Chicago. “Let’s play a song by a band that’s meant a lot to the Chicago scene over the years,” singer John Darnielle said. “We all love this band. We grew up with this band.”

The Chicago band of choice: Styx. John Darnielle and his two-piece backing band, which includes Superchunk’s Jon Wurster on drums, rocked through a joyful “Babe.” The rollicking performance honors an unexpected influence with only mild irony (“This is absolutely the worst part,” Darnielle quips at one point). Download the MP3 below. While no streamable video has been posted yet, you can download the full-set video here (both MP3 and video courtesy of the good people at Mountain-Goats.net).

MP3: The Mountain Goats – Babe (Styx cover)
[audio: News0811/08Babe.mp3]

Check out more Mountain Goats at their website.

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