REVIEW BY EMILY FARRIS
Those who attended the Decemberists' return to the Uptown Theater Wednesday night got two shows for the price of one.
First, the band performed their latest album The Hazards of Love in its entirety, start to finish, as they have been since debuting it live at South by Southwest in April. Not that they could have done it any other way; the "folk opera," as frontman Colin Meloy has often referred to it, tells the story of ingénue Margaret, who is ravaged by a shape-shifting creature, but in the finale marries her lover William.
Hazards is clearly an ensemble piece and so Meloy rarely took center stage during the first half of the show. Instead two gems -- Becky Stark of Lavender Diamond, a lilty soprano who plays Margaret and Shara Worden of My Brightest Diamond, a sultry alto who portrays a jealous woods queen and at times evoked Jefferson Airplane's psychedelic rock style -- shared lead-vocal duties with Meloy.
Each song flowed into the other, which made it hard to determine when one ended and another began, and left no room for Meloy's signature banter. In fact, throughout Hazards, the band never once broke character, though it was clear Meloy wanted to when, at one point, he held his guitar over his head for an extended period of time -- not necessarily something "William" would have done.
After the break -- which a few unfortunate (or very drunk) concertgoers interpreted as the end of the show and bailed -- it was the Decemberists as usual with Meloy front and center, belting poppy hits and sweet ballads, and cracking jokes in between tunes.
During a guitar change, drummer John Moen asked, "What did the pig put on to soothe his cut paw?...Oinkment!" Lame or not (lame), it was exactly the kind of interaction the crowd seemed to miss during the first half.
Near the end of the show, Stark and Worden reappeared and belted out an amazing rendition of Heart's hit "Crazy On You." It absolutely would have been the highlight of the night until Meloy, alone on stage with his acoustic guitar, tripped over the lyrics to "Red Right Ankle" and endearingly giggled his way through the next few lines.
During the final song, "A Cautionary Tale," the Decemberists' musical guests from the first half emerged from back stage onto the floor where Meloy directed a rather loose interpretation of "Lawrence of Arabia" -- even encouraging the crowd to mount each others' backs.
But the fun ended when Meloy decided a giant meteor came down from the sky and killed everyone. The musicians quickly retreated back through the audience and Meloy finished "A Cautionary Tale" with these words of caution: "remember what she does when you're asleep."
Set list
Prelude
The Hazards Of Love 1 (The Prettiest Whistles Won't Wrestle The Thistles Undone)
A Bower Scene
Won't Want For Love (Margaret In The Taiga)
The Hazards Of Love 2 (Wager All)
The Queen's Approach
Isn't It A Lovely Night?
The Wanting Comes In Waves/Repaid
An Interlude
The Rake's Song
The Abduction Of Margaret
The Queen's Rebuke/The Crossing
Annan Water
Margaret In Captivity
The Hazards Of Love 3 (Revenge!)
The Wanting Comes In Waves [Reprise]
The Hazards Of Love 4 (The Drowned)
Intermission
Oceanside
July, July
Billy Liar
We Both Go Down Together
The Engine Driver
The Sporting Life
O Valencia
Crazy on You (Heart cover)
Encore
Red Right Ankle
A Cautionary Tale
Showing 1-9 of 9
I concur with Robert. Awesome photos Forester.
I'm pissed that I left before the intermission but I was hopped up on pain killers from a BAD toothache. Oceanside & O Valencia are two of my favorite songs. What I saw was super sweet, though.
According to the time stamp on the text message I sent to my friend saying that the cover of "Crazy on You" was my indie-classic rock wet dream come true, it looks like the show ended around 11:15-11:25.
I believe they went on at 9.
Judging by the setlist, they played until 6 a.m. the next morning.
Anyone remember what time The Decemberists took the stage and what time the concert was over? I'm going to their show in a few weeks and am trying to figure out travel time. Thanks.
like
dislike
