Live music review: Father John Misty at Moody Amphitheater
On Friday, August 12, the crowd at the Moody Amphitheater at Waterloo Greenway (formerly Waterloo Park), was treated to an electric three hours of music on a colorful stage set in contrast against the dark, downtown Austin skyline accented by the dome of the Capitol building behind the stage. While a full moon shone down from above, the audience swayed and cheered to Father John Misty and Suki Waterhouse’s captivating performances.
Waterhouse, a model, actor and musician hailing from London, England, opened up the show. Waterhouse gained popularity after her song “Good Looking” went viral on the social media site, Tik Tok. The sped-up version of the song has been used in over 324k videos to date. Adorned in a sparkly black suit, Waterhouse danced her way onto the stage along with her talented band mates.
Waterhouse is currently on her first ever tour, supporting Father John Misty through October of this year. The singer is promoting her debut album, I Can’t Let Go, and is only a few weeks into the tour that kicked off July 31 at Colorado’s iconic Red Rocks Amphitheater.
In between songs, Waterhouse recounted tour antics on the bus and excitement of touring nationally in America for the first time. Throughout her performance, Waterhouse channeled the likes of Angel Olsen, Mazzy Star, and Emily Haines, as she sang songs off her debut album inspired by some of her deepest, most personal moments. Despite it being her inexperience performing live, the singer held the crowd’s attention like a true entertainer.
After a brief intermission, Father John Misty took to the stage and opened with “Q4,” the sixth track off his new album, Chloë and the Next 20th Century. Accompanied by a wide variety of instrumentalists, Misty flexed his genre chops throughout the night, featuring jazz, folk, indie, pop, and rock hits.
Father John Misty, also known as Joshua Michael Tillman, is a multi-talented musician, originally from Maryland, proficient in guitar, piano, bass, drums, and harmonica. Often pulling on his own experience with religion, Tillman’s lyrics range from the deeply personal to playful.
In between songs, Misty entertained the enthralled crowd with intimate stories and glimpses into his songwriting inspiration. He shared that this is his tenth year touring to Austin and first time he’d performed at the Moody Amphitheater, which opened in June 2021 with a pair of Gary Clark Jr. performances. In addition to the incredible musicians comprising his backing band, the lights and impeccable sound at the new venue only added to a truly stellar performance. Misty sounded as good, if not better, than his recorded tracks and put on a clinic, only possible by a truly seasoned performer.
After taking the crowd from one remarkable song to the next, including a particularly touching new single, “Goodbye Mr Blue” about saying goodbye to his beloved cat, Misty kicked off the encore with “God’s Favorite Customer” from his fourth album of the same name released in 2018. He followed that with the first performance of “In Twenty Years Or So” since 2017 and closed after with another crowd-pleaser off of his third album Pure Comedy, “Real Love Baby.”
You can watch the tour via an exclusive bootleg series available every Tuesday starting August 9. Father John Misty will also be live streaming his upcoming performances in Asheville and Nashville.
All photos by Michael Maly
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