The Mountain Goats are coming to Higher Ground Ballroom in South Burlington on Wednesday, August 19 — and the timing makes this one worth circling on the calendar. Their 24th studio album, days, drops August 7, which puts this show exactly twelve days into the new record’s life. That’s the window where you get a band still sharp from the album push, the material freshly lived-in, the setlist still evolving. It’s usually a great time to be in the room.
About The Mountain Goats
John Darnielle started the Mountain Goats in California in 1991, recording early material on a cheap Panasonic boombox for the independent Shrimper cassette label. Over three-plus decades, the catalog has grown past 600 songs, covering territory from the Chicago Cubs to the underground metal scene to deeply personal family history. Records like Tallahassee, The Sunset Tree, and All Hail West Texas built a following as devoted as any in indie music. The current trio — Darnielle, multi-instrumentalist Matt Douglas, and drummer Jon Wurster — has kept releasing at a pace most bands half their age couldn’t match.
days is the band’s 24th studio album, arriving August 7 on their own Cadmean Dawn Records label. Darnielle conceived it as a spiritual sequel to Goths, and describes it as “loosely about the 70s, 80s, and 90s — the accumulation of days, each one a little further back.” Produced by John Congleton at Sear Sound in Manhattan, it features a 12-track lineup including lead single “Charlie Sheen Reaches Out to the Feds,” described as “a slightly funky, oddly anthemic song.” The 2026 world tour supporting days includes Carnegie Hall, Red Rocks, and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, with several dates already sold out.
About Higher Ground
North Country fans making the drive into Burlington won’t be disappointed by the room. Higher Ground is Vermont’s premier music venue — the Ballroom holds 750 and the place runs shows nearly every night of the year. Find it at 1214 Williston Rd in South Burlington. Show time is 8:00 PM.
Tickets
This tour has been moving fast — multiple dates are already gone. Grab your tickets now before the Higher Ground date follows.