i had a birthday and got to see one of my favorite bands.
so much has been written about the decemberists and so much of it has been laudatory. rightly so, in my opinion. so, at the risk of sounding like a broken mp3, i’ll add a bit to the heap of praise.
the decemberists have put on two of the best shows i’ve seen in the past five years. they are one of a handful of newer bands out there that understand the fundamentals of old-school showmanship and have the musical chops to take the whole thing over the top. it’s not purely rock ‘n roll showmanship either. there’s a huge vein of theatricality running through their live show with crowd participation and props and musical suites and old instruments you’d never see on a rock stage. bottom line is that a night with these guys is a hell of a lot of fun. and i’m looking forward to another chance to see them in a few days at bonnaroo.
the current tour supporting “the crane wife” (a great album; the latest in a series of winners) rolled through san francisco on april 26th. it takes a lot to get me out to the warfield these days; even more to be on the floor there. but the sold out show was delightfully undersold and you could actually breathe and move about in general admission.
rather than feature something here from “the crane wife,” i decided to post one of the evening’s highlights for me: a particularly joyous version of “song for myla goldberg” from the album “her majesty the decemberists.” apparently colin meloy was a media escort for myla during the “bee season” book tour, and from that we get this wonderful tune. some great shows from the tour are available over at the archive, complete and available for download or streaming.
