This was my third time seeing The Decemberists in concert. A few years ago I saw them at the Southgate House Ballroom in Newport, KY, with Bishop Allen. Last November I saw them at PromoWest in Columbus, OH. Friday night I drove down to Louisville, KY, to see them at the Brown Theatre. Driving from Cincinnati after work, I missed the opening band, My Brightest Diamond, whom started the show at 7:30 or 8:00. The first two Decemberists’ shows I attended were both in general admission venues. The Brown Theatre was lavish theatre that seated 1,400. That created a different atmosphere for this performance.
The band opened the show with “Oceanside.” The mood stayed light as they played “The Tain.” At this point, almost every member of the audience was still seated. Lead singer Colin Meloy asked, “Why don’t we all stand up for a minute?” From then no one sat back down. The set slowly picked up as the band played parts of “The Crane Wife.” For “Yankee Bayonet (I Will Be Home Then),” My Brightest Diamond's Shara Worden joined the band on vocals.
While the band was having a great time on stage, the music was not well mixed. The acoustic guitar was buried in the mix. Jenny Conlee’s keyboards were low as well. There was even one song when her pump organ accompaniment was completely missing from the mix. Even with these technical difficulties, The Decemberists put on an extremely entertaining show.
Throughout the set, the band members were animated and enjoying themselves. Whether it was guitarists Chris Funk’s dancing or aside glances between the performers, their interplay and nonverbal communication was both entertaining and amusing. When the guitar tech brought out Colin’s electric guitar, Meloy announced it was the tech’s birthday. The audience sang “Happy Birthday” and then the band provided a platform to showcase the tech as solo guitarist.
After playing most of The Crane Wife mixed with some older crowd favorites (“Here I Dreamt I Was An Architect,” “July, July” and “Military Wives”), the band left the stage. The encore began with “Eli The Barrow Boy.” Then it followed with a rousing rendition of “The Mariner’s Revenge Song” complete with a two-man whale costume. With their almost two hour long show, The Decemberists proved they are one of the most entertaining live bands on tour these days.
www.decemberists.com
www.myspace.com/thedecemberists
Thanks to nuthead25 here's a video of the intro to "The Mariner's Revenge Song" from this show:
Again thanks to nuthead25 here's the video of "The Mariner's Revenge Song" from the show:
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