Music Review: Balladeers! Packing 12-Strings No Less!
Music Review - Live: The Decemberists “8.23.06”
I’ve got to admit- I was one of them. Depriving myself of The Decemberists for no good reason. Riding the coattails of fellow Northwesterners Death Cab and Modest Mouse, you wonder if their major label signing wasn’t just the product of a current trend. And then of course you come to find out, they’re just five down-to-earth people who craft some of the most interesting ballads out there.
Their live show explained how all the hype was warranted.
Slow, but fitting opener I Was Made for the Stage which bled nicely as a wall of noise into the addictively catchy 16 Military Wives. The entire set felt balanced- easily ebbing from old mainstays to new experiments. The Perfect Crime with its chiming, on-point electric guitar bursts, jubilant encore Mariner’s Revenge Song, and R.E.M influenced “joint suicide” story We Both Go Down Together highlighted a set with amazing variety and flowing continuity.
Admittedly rusty, this was the band’s first show in 2 months, but they approached the layoff with grace. Asking for front row help to remember lyrics. Reading illegible banners in the crowd. Stopping to eat a birthday cookie for the drummer. Cute, very cute.
The new album leak piqued my interest, but the show sold me. Of course, Frodo had to burn me their whole catalogue. *sigh* How the hell am I going to listen to anything else for the next month?
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