Ramblings of a Redhead Music Snob

That sounds like a good title for a Decemberists song, right? Well dont worry – this is about the Decemberists 🙂

Ive decided that Im going to get back on the game (or is that the horse) and start to update this on a regular basis. Theres so many great concerts out there – and so many Ive seen.

According to The Decemberists website this is what we would get – Decemberists will perform a set that will be entirely left to the hands of fate — we will draw songs from a lottery and dutifully play them, regardless of their quality or presence in our memory. Decemberists songs, naturally, but you do never know what bizarre cover songs or strange commands may end up in the pile.

And yes – this was a set left entirely in the hands of fate – along with also the hands of John Wesley Harding. As emcee of the show, he did quite a good job. He was a little too talkative for my taste, as Id have preferred to have heard more songs. And I definitely was not a fan of him throwing out songs at the end. What no “Engine Driver”, which happens to be one of my favorite songs. But he was entertaining and had to throw about some other ridiculous requests. Not sure how many other crowd surfing requests there actually were.

Decemberists did their best to keep things in order. The only thing actually not in order was they did play Crane Wife 3 and then went straight into The Island. And that worked out quite well. It was great to see Laura Veirs on Yankee Bayonet as the last time this was supposed to happen their show was cancelled. The songs were pretty all over the place and Id have loved to have heard even more of their popular songs, but – as left to the hands of fate you never know what youll get.

The Tain was definitely interesting and lasting 20 mins. Im quite sure this will be the first and last time I ever get to hear it played. Colin did write a song about The Hudson River, NYC and Sully and considering it was on the fly, it was pretty damn awesome. Marcel did some crowd surfing which was pretty funny and yes, even Nate and John made out, although Im almost sure there was no tongue. I was right in front of Jenny and she was looking like she was having a great time as always.

The final song was just awesome. Im a big fan of ELO, hahaha, and this was an awesome cover. I got some great video of it and Colin hopping around.

The good: hearing songs Id never have heard otherwise and in general an awesome idea. it was the perfect, the perfect, the perfect, the perfect, the perfect, the perfect crime!

The bad: not enough music. 15 songs in 2 hours really. Not much of Colin Meloy talking 😦 and way too much John Wesley Harding talking.

Laura Veirs was a good opener. She plays a folky-indie style of music and has a great voice. Her backing band is also quite good. Plus, without her we’d not have her wonderful addition on “Yankee Bayonet”.

Setlist:

1. Yankee Bayonet (w/Laura Veirs)
2. July July
3. The Raincoat Song
4. Bridges and Balloons
5. From My Own True Love
6. Bachelor & The Bride
7. Rake Song
8. Culling of the Fold
9. Marcel crowd surfs to a waltz
10. I Was Meant For The Stage
11. The Island
12. Crane Wife 3
13. Annan Water

Encore 1

1. Nate & John Make Out
2. Colin Writes a Song
3. The Tain
4. The Perfect Crime 2

Encore 2

1. Mr. Blue Sky (ELO cover)