Mike Doughty

The matured sound of the original Soul Coughing tickled my ears. Like a fine wine it only got better with time.

It took 19 years to finally see him live and it was completely worth it.

I originally went to this show thinking that "This would be the closest I will ever get to seeing Soul Coughing Live".....I actually got something much better. Mike really blew me away with the new reprises of these songs that I know and love. The difference being is that they seemed pure and uncluttered. I found myself glad that the incessant samples weren't there to muck up the collective unconscious. I was absolutely giddy with glee the entire show. I couldn't have asked for anything more.

Mike Doughty put on an awesome show! But the venue had terrible sound - killed the sound of the music. People standing around me were quite vocal about that as well - disappointed to see a concert like that. Don't know if it was the mixing or the speakers. either way. ugh.

From the bizarre, whimsical, faux-bearded sound check, through the opening act, and right until the house lights knelled the evening to a close, Mike Doughty And His Band Fantastic did NOT disappoint!! I first saw Mike, at this very theater, when he was with Soul Coughing, and have been a major fan ever since...so I jumped at the chance to see him and his new Band Fantastic on the "Yes And Also Yes" tour at the historic El Rey Theater in deepest, darkest Los Angeles. Mike's brand of "Jangle-Meets-Beat" musical stylings combine the best of both genres, with a few new twists thrown in to keep you guessing and excited. Intelligent, thought provoking, and often hauntingly personal lyrics form the backbone of Mike's repertoire, softened at times with good, old fashioned silliness. These are all supported, quite solidly, by a foundation of folksy riffs turned inside-out and reinvented.

Great show and really enjoyed Moon Hooch! Thank M. Doughty for picking them up!

The band sounded great! He had good energy and the opener was really funky.

Awesome show - Doughty and his band never fail to disappoint!

Great venue and great band! My friends and I liked the opening band as well. It sounded amazing and the show was fun.

You will never regret seeing Mike Doughty, he is truly unique.

Standing next to the stage, half-way through the show, I had the following thought: "If the sole purpose of the creation of this universe was for this one moment in time, I think it was worth it." It makes my brain tired just thinking about what to say about this show/artist. I'm a pretentious music lover. Mike Doughty is my favorite artist. He shines on stage. There, that'll save me 1000 words. Andrew Livingston and Mike are like bacon and eggs. (I can think of no higher compliment) It's almost an insult that tickets were only $20.

Mr. Doughty was in rare form. He and his cello player were completely in-sync. It was hilarious, sweet and wow-worthy.

Q: Is Orlando? Is not Orlando? A: Is Orlando. Doughty & Scrap Armstrong ruled the stage with authority and evenhandedness to all concert goers. It was twice as loud as a pretty loud conversation, but half as loud as the club next door. Hope MIke can keep making tuneful music for a long time to come. Very good show .

My boyfriend got me into Mike Doughty. I liked him immediately. Mike has an amazing voice and writes really good songs. I really enjoyed Scrap on the cello. The cello really worked well with the music. Beautiful experience! The audience questions is a great idea too :) very entertaining! I would love to see Mike and Scrap again (especially because i heart the American Car song and they didn't play it, so i hope to hear it next time)

Doughty sounded great and his interplay with Scrap and the audience made for a very entertaining evening.

excellent sound and an excellent show!! hell of a guitar player!!!

Overall a terrific show. The music was tight and on the mark -- you could tell Scrap and Mike were having a great time playing. And the jar Q/A was hilarious. It was a nice change from the usual between song banter most bands engage in.

Granted, I'm not a musician or a sound engineer, but something was off at the Birchmere. I felt like shouting out - fix the buzzing/interference already. It was like the show needed to be set at 8 and they had it on 10. It wasn't the loudness, but some flaw in the speakers or mike or set up or accoustics. I will definitely pause before buying tickets to that place again. SO, to get through it because I was wimpy and did not point out the problem-o, I pretended I was in a friend's garage listening to her older brother play and sing with his buddy. AND, I had another glass of wine. Mike did great and deserved better. The question jar was a hoot. We laughed a lot. THAT cello was powerful and passion-ful.

It kills me to write this review because I LOVE Mike Doughty and have thoroughly enjoyed many of his past solo shows. Despite that, I have to tell the truth here...this was one of the worst shows I've ever seen by any artist and the first show where I bought tickets and was so bored and disappointed that I left early. This "show" was basically like a night in Mike Doughty's basement while he fooled around aimlessly with a few new synthesizer toys he just bought. It was wildly self-indulgent, and while I tried hard to indulge and join Doughty on this journey, it was just unbearable. At some point as he hammered away on a synth pad the size of an adding machine with a record playing in the background (an actual record of pre-recorded samples that he put on a turn-table and played) , aimlessly saying things like "zoom-zip" into the microphone, we just left. My advice for any fan of Doughty: Let your love for his music remain intact by skipping this tour. Catch him later and hope that by that time he is done with his soul searching and soul coughing and gets back to something pure and real like picking up a guitar and playing real music.

Mike Doughty and his band never fail to impress, and Saturday night's show at the Bowery Ballroom was no exception.

Once again, Doughty put on an excellent show. I loved the mix of old and new. The opening band was a trip...dueling saxes, nice!

To bad because my wife and I really like Doughty's music. This show we were waiting for an hour and a half just to be disappointed. Just doesn't mix enough of his old music in with the new. Way to much talking onstage and not bringing in the good vibes. I really think he needs to do less shows to stay fresh. Because it shows the band is just going through the motions. I mean man you have so many great older songs that you can get the crowds into it . Sorry if you do not like this review but it is just being honest. P. S. Moon Hooch was very good, Kudos for that. Hopefully Mike reads this open - mindedly.

Mike has never disappointed at any of the shows I have been to--including when he was playing with Soul Coughing. He has made each show special for the audience in some way. This time was particularly intimate because the show was recorded live and the disks were then available for purchase after the show. He then signed copies, merchandise, babies, etc. for those interested. Unfortunately, I was the first in line and the first of the two discs already had some random recording by Dr. Karl Coke, but the second disc sounds quite good. I'm going to mail Mike the signed disk of Karl Coke to see if he can/will return me a signed disc of the actual first part of the show. Overall it was a stellar experience!

I have to preface this by saying that I've seen Mike in concert before and that both times have been in support of my husband, who has been a major fan since the Soul Coughing days. The last time we saw him (about three years ago), he definitely had more of a rock-folk flavor to his music. I was so pleasantly surprised to see electronic and noise influence at this most recent show. I don't think I stopped dancing the whole time - it was so great and far surpassed my expectations. Wheatus opened and I only knew them from Teenage Dirtbag, but their set was really good and I loved how their sound so radically changed to play back-up for Mike. All in all, highly recommend - if you can get to this show, do!

Fantastic evening, I've seen Mike Doughty many times and I have to say the benefit of the band is a nice addition. He rolled out many Soul Coughing tunes, which was interesting as I haven't heard him do that much over the years. The best part about the tunes he played was that it wasn't a straight reproduction of the songs we all know and love. He and the band had a unique perspective on each tune. Which is kind of the definition of art! Go see Mike Dougthy and Wheatus if they come anywhere near you!

Great show! Excellent sound, good mix of Soul Coughing and solo material.

I'll start mentioning that I went to this show with a friend to see Wheatus perform. Wheatus was part of our youth and we wanted to watch them perform live. Wheatus was amazing! There were only 3 members: the guitarist, the bassist and a girl that sang second voices. They played phenomenal and were full of energy! I thought without keyboards and drums, it'd be boring, but they managed to make it work! As for Mike Doughty, it was disappointing. I don't understand his style (it was abstract, like watching art) and definitely don't like it. Members of Wheatus and other 3 guys played the instruments and they are phenomenal players, Mike Doughty even has a good voice, but the way the show goes and the type of music they created was no good (for me). I ended up leaving with my friend after trying to listen several songs and failing to appreciate their music.

Longtime fan never gotten to see him perform live with a full band, only a short solo stint at a Bonnaroo. Amazing to see him at the Culture room which is a small venue. Did a whole mess of Soul Coughing classics. Wheatus who opened also played as part of the band in his set.

whenever I see mike perform, he always puts on a great show. this show being the last of the soul coughing songs reimagined tour was pretty amazing. I went to the first show of the tour in Teaneck and it was great but after doing this show 31 more times by the time the last show came, he, Cat Popper and Pete Wilhoit, straight up and down murdered the show! let us have a moment of silence for the end of the tour! mike has come so very far from where he was one when these songs were first penned. today, when he's up there, it isn't a chore! there is a playful joyous energy behind every note, every tweak of the sampler, and every gesture and little dancy move he makes. it's a beautiful thing to see him enjoying himself up there because that is exactly how it should be. I'm grateful to have been able to experience the rebirth of these songs. thank you mike! thank you so very much!

Moon Hooch, the opening band, was great! Never heard so much sound come from 2 saxophones and a drummer. M. Doughty doing Soul Coughing was exactly as good as I expected it to be. Just him and a stand-up bass player and a drummer as I remembered them from the late 1990's.

Great show at one of the great venues in San Francisco

If you're familiar enough with Mike Doughty to read this review, I'm not going to give a boilerplate. This show was billed as an all Soul Coughing songs, and following the crowd-funded release of his album of reinterpretations of a number of Soul Coughing songs, this show could have been wholly phoned in. It was not. On the contrary, more than the album, Doughty playing these songs live breathed new life into them, giving them space to breath anew. The bass player was in the pocket all night long, and the drummer was hypnotic. But Doughty himself owned the show. Amazing -- if you have the opportunity to see it, go. Just go.

A really great show! It was nice to hear the updated Soul Coughing songs. The audience was really into it, and the band had good energy. It was also really cool to see the variety of instruments used in a live show.

I've seen a few Doughty shows in my day, & Mike never fails to entertain, always a good show, but this was much more than i anticipated. I was expecting acoustic soul coughing, but not this time. Another Pete on drums, amazing bass fiddle, and all the music we know & love but with many new twists.

As always, Mike Doughty put on a great show. It was an intimate accoustic show and he played songs from his new album as well as old favorites. It was supposed to be a book tour, and while he discussed the book, he stayed true to his roots and played more than he talked. The best part was that he did a meet and greet after the show and I was able to get my book signed.

The show was pretty good. Fortunately, not too much reading from the book. It would be nice if he wasn't so intent on distancing himself from the Soul Coughing songs. Overall, a rather low key show musically. I much prefer when he plays with his full band, but I knew this wasn't that kind of a show. If you go, make sure you don't talk - Mikey doesn't like that.

This was my first live experience with Mr. Doughty and it was well-worth the reasonable price of the ticket. I am familiar with The House of Blues Chicago and continue to seek out concert opportunities at this particular venue: Blondie, The Blues Brothers, Cyndi Lauper, just to name a few. I like that the staff is easily accessible, and helpful; the acoustics are great; and the talent seem to enjoy performing at HoB, as well. Mike Doughty interacted frequently with the crowd, and offered up autographs after his performance - another huge plus of this venue - which unfortunately, I could not partake in due to time constraints, but I plan to on his next visit to Chicago. All in all, a very cool concert experience.

Show was great, he's really funny on stage, tells some great stories and still sings like he always has. I love that you can buy a copy of the show right after

Doughty and Moon Hooch were awesome. Can't say enough about either performances. The TLA however was somewhat dissapointing since my last visit 2+ yrs ago. Since it was a rainy wednesday Philadelphia night, it was a tiny crowd, I'd guess under 300. Due to this, they closed down the upstairs (except for a few lucky people who obviulsly had some pull there). If you wanted a beer (which was $12.50), you were crammed into the bar area and weren't allowed to leave. Eventually, the bouncer said "screw it, just go" and let everyone out of there. I would definitely see Doughty and Moon Hooch again, but I will reconsider the TLA, even though it has long been a love of mine

Mike and the band opened up with an amazing jam session sporting wizard beards and kicked the show off for their opener Moon Hooch, which is some of the greatest music ever made. Mike and the band came back out and delivered a fantastic, orgasmic performance and all was well in the world.

This was my second time seeing Mike Doughty live, but this show was awesome. The venue was great and was really great for him and his opening act. I was standing right in the front and was leaning on the stage, and I really love a venue where I can get there. The show I went to was recorded for one of his live recordings and that is pretty cool. I have listened to other live albums of his and on occasion he plays this song "Firetruck" and he played it on Saturday night! He really engaged the audience and made us feel like this show was just for us. It was also their last show of the tour, so they made it a really memorable experience for everyone. All in all is was a great show!

Mike was...as always awesome...great to hear him with the full band. He rocked the place. Venue was neat, small which was nice. He hung out after and took pics and signed autographs. Overall great concert and a great night. Can't wait to see him again.

I love his recorded stuff. Live, his poetry really shines through, more than the music. Same stuff, but a different feel.

I've seen Mike multiple times and he was totally awesome as usual. The surprise of the night was the backup band Moon Hooch. Together, it was an awesome evening!

Mike Doughty never disappoints! Great show, great music, great man. I have been a huge Doughty fan many years and will never get tired of seeing him.

He is the best. Period. Anyone who missed it, that's YOUR MISFORTUNE!

I was expecting to hear all of Doughty's hits. He received many requests from the audience throughout the night, however, all the crowd heard was "no, not tonight." What a disappointment.

Amazing show and well worth the cost. Mike is a great entertainer and even stayed to meet all the fans and autograph items afterwards. Loved the venue!