Saw The Decembrists Last Week (Spoilers)

[SteveSly]

This review is a little bit late, but I saw The Decembrists for the first time last week at Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids Michigan. This is a band that I had heard about for a long time, but just began to explore their stuff a year or two ago. To my ears they have a totally unique sound. When someone asks me to describe what kind of music they do, I find it very difficult to come up with something appropriate. I am a huge fan of their older albums. Their newer stuff does not do as much for me, but I must say that the songs off of their latest “I’ll Be Your Girl” came off better live than on the record. This was an outdoor show on what was a slightly cool, but gorgeous Michigan evening. I got there a bit late and missed the opening acts set. This being June, it was still completely light out when The Decembrists took the stage and was just starting to get dark when their show ended, so even though they had a light show with them, it was not very effective. Band leader Colin Malloy said at the beginning that he had been suffering from a cold and had lost his voice two days previously, so they would be focusing on material that would not strain his voice. Personally I could not detect any problems with his voice and thought he sounded good all night. The band played a variety of stuff from thorough their career, and as mentioned earlier the stuff from the new album came across quite well live, especially the single “Severed” that rocked in an old school new wave kind of way. One song that didn’t work for me was “We All Die Young” which is basically Joe Walsh / The Eagles “All Night Long” with different lyrics. The song seems like a deliberate pandering to the live audience to get a sing along going. Other than that I enjoyed every minute of the show. It would have been nice to hear something like “The Crain Wife” (probably my favorite album from them), but that was not to be. They did save the best for last with “The Mariner’s Revenge Song” as the encore, complete with a big inflatable whale hovering over the audience. I really enjoyed this, my first Decembrists experience, and would definitely go see them again. Here is the set list:

DEAR AVERY
YANKEE BAYONET
CUTTING STONE
GRACE CATHEDRAL HILL
WE ALL DIE YOUNG
BILLY LIAR
ROX IN THE BOX
WON’T WANT FOR LOVE
SUCKER’S PRAYER
STARWATCHER
SEVERED
CALAMITY SONG
OH VALENCIA!
SONS AND DAUGHTERS

ENCORE

RED RIGHT ANKLE
THE MARINER’S REVENGE SONG

Here a few youtube videos I found of the show:

[miamiscot]

Great band!!!