It was a first time gig in Melbourne for the Decemberists, currently in Australia on their first tour here. There was a crowd of devoted fans who knew every lyric to every song and sang along loudly and passionately. From the band there was crazy Colin Meloy, lead singer, guitarist and someone who clearly loves playing gigs. The set was punctuated by some audience sing alongs of great enthusiasm. Their songs are full of interesting material- old folk tales, war, infanticide, being eaten by a whale...
The Decemberists are masters of the story telling song so it was fitting that they chose to open their set last night with The Tain, a fifteen minute-plus epic that traversed through heavy rock riffs, folky interludes and an array of instruments played by the members of the band. This was followed by the jaunty Sporting Life from Picaresque and another fast number, Billy Liar. A couple of songs from last year's story book album The Hazards of Love were also played, The Rake Song and Annan Water, good even out of the context of the album's story.
The Crane Wife's three parts were another set highlight, played this time in order, unlike on the album. Following this were O Valencia and 16 Military Wives, both obvious crowd favourites.
The encore included a deliberately chosen cover of Bye Bye Pride (originally a Go Betweens song) and Sons and Daughters which inspired another mass singalong of the closing refrain. After stomping, cheering and drowning out the background music that was supposed to signal the set's end, the band came back to play a hilarious rendition of The Mariner's Revenge Song. The whole audience was swaying in time with the fictional boat's motions, the band members played dead on the stage and the audience all had to scream upon being eaten by the whale.
A most enjoyable show from a very talented group of musicians and songwriters.
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2 comments:
Well, this is a surprise!
Surfing the web looking for a good quote for a homework assignment (preferably from one of my favorite bands) and not getting mny results, I decided to look up quotes by Wilco. Google brought me to your page, and wow! I've been going through your posts, and I love it! The Decemberists? The Shins? Mumford and Sons? All these other great bands that almost no one else I know has even heard of, and an entire blog devoted to them! Ahh! So, I see you've stopped posting, and if you ever see this, just know that there's a random American girl and her boyfriend who would love love love it if you did. :)
Thanks for posting your review of the Decemberists show, I missed them while they in town as I've only recently become a fan! I'm really enjoying making my way through your posts on this blog. Al
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