see The Decemberists live

Tickets went on sale today for Rock The Garden @ the Walker Art Center… bought two tickets! June 20th = The Decemberists.

yes.

Screaming during “The Mariner’s Revenge Song.”

Barring a freak occurence and they actually come to Australia, I doubt this will ever happen.

So I’m removing this, since there’s an endless list of bands I want to see live but probably won’t..

Saw them live (and free!) at Millennium Park in Chicago with the Grant Park Orchestra. So stellar. With and without the GPO, it was beautiful.

...They are playing a free show in Grant (Millenium) Park with the 82 piece orchestra?

Holy crap. I briefly considered it too much trouble to mill through the throngs, but I am not fully struck with the DON’T MISS IT YOU BASTARD feeling…

Gods, I hope I go.

my favorite band, and i got a picture with chris funk!! it was absolutely amazing, the best concert i’ve been to by far.

It was only the most amazing night of my life. I think I might be in love with Colin Meloy and John Moen. And Chris Funk. And Nate Query… and Jenny Conlee, just so she won’t be left out. <3

THEY ROCK SO HARD.

(Not a great picture, but I love the lighting!)
Saw them in Boston and in Buffalo, NY (for my birthday!). They were amazing both times. I love it when a band sounds just as good live as they do on their cd.

also: I think I am in love with Colin Meloy.

The Decemberists were AWESOME. If there was any way I could have got Monday off work, I’d have hopped straight on a plane to see them again in Glasgow the following night. (I kept an eye out for that bass case, Abs, but they’d hidden it. They’re obviously used to stow-away fans.)

They opened with The Crane Wife 3, and followed that with The Island et al, both of which were among the tracks Abs sent me, so it was great to know them and be able to sing along. In fact, they played almost all the songs I knew – but not The Mariner’s Revenge Song, so no giant cardboard whale, alas!

The atmosphere was incredible. I was up in the balcony, close to the stage, so I had an excellent view of both the stage and the audience in the standing room below – which was great fun when Colin Meloy had everyone doing calisthenics halfway through the gig, a sea of heads bobbing up and down and arms waving, and even more so when he split the room in two and had us competing to sing the “la-de-da” parts of 16 Military Wives the loudest. There was banter between Colin and the crowd, and throwing of flowers onto the stage, and the energy in the room was electric.

Another thing that really impressed me was the lighting. Vicar St has always been a good venue for effects, but their lighting tech excelled himself for this. The up-tempo songs had flashing colours and whirling patterns that followed Colin leaping around the stage, and the slower ones had mood lighting that really enhanced the song – a particularly good one was You’ll Not Feel The Drowning with the stage in almost complete darkness except for pools of green light falling on each band member.

When they finished, we were applauding and calling them back for so long I wasn’t sure they were going to come out again, but they did and played a long encore set, about half an hour. The first encore they played was Eli The Barrow Boy, which sent shivers down my spine. That was the other song I most wanted to hear, so if nothing else had, that made my night.

The only thing I’d change is that next time, I’ll go in more appreciative company. D. enjoyed the gig alright, but he wasn’t as blown away as I was. Which is perfectly fine, of course, but it would have been nice to go with people who were equally excited.

I want them to come back so I can go again!

you are the starriest little star ever! Thanks a million for all those emails. I love every one of those songs, and I’m busily spreading the word – I played them for Little Bro, who liked them (and is notoriously picky about his music), and have roped D. into coming to the gig with me tomorrow. (Tomorrow – wheeeeeee!)