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October 27, 2006
The Decemberists - The Crane Wife (1)
The Decemberists came through town a couple of nights ago and played at the Gypsy Tea Room. It has been about a year-and-a-half since I saw their last show.
Like the last show, they played 2 full hours, but this show was better for 3 reasons: the crowd was better, the new album is better, and the band was having a great time. This was their sixth show on this tour and that made a difference in how excited they were to perform.
As Karen and I walked in line, I noticed Colin Meloy walk by with the rest of the band in tow. No one else seemed to recognize him, and I didn't want to be the jerk that out-ed him. Prior to going on stage, Peter and the Wolf played as the techs got everything set up.
The audience sang along with most of the songs. Early on Colin chided us saying that we would hurt our vocal cords if we didn't warm up properly. He proceeded to have the audience do a warm-up scale singing, "This is a very good show."
A few other highlights included Colin taking a poster from an audience member. The fellow concert attendee had written a song request along with the fact that it was his anniversary. After announcing that they couldn't do the song and how not doing it made him look like a heel he asked, "Why would you want a song about a male, junkie prostitute for your anniversary?" This led to the drummer playing and Colin free styling the "Male, Junkie Prostitute Blues."
The music was fantastic. They played a quick, staccato version of "The Legionnaire's Lament" and a hauntingly yummy version of "Shankhill Butchers." After a lovely acoustic rendition of "Song for Myra Goldberg" and a lively call for an encore, they played "Culling Of The Fold" which Colin introduced as "a song about senseless murder." He grabbed a cell phone from a front row patron who was taking his picture and proceeded to dial someone and sing the second half of the song into the phone.
"I was Meant for the Stage" was a great way to end a brilliant performance.
The Set List (for J.D.)
1. The Crane Wife 3
2. Island: Come and See – The Landlord’s Daughter – You’ll Not Feel the Drowning
3. We Both Go Down Together
4. Engine Driver
5. The Perfect Crime
6. The Legionnaire’s Lament
7. The Soldering Life
8. Shankhill Butchers (Introduced as a true story!)
9. O Valencia!
10. Song for Myra Goldberg
11. 16 Military Wives
12. The Crane Wife 1 & 2
13. Sons and Daughters
Encore:
14. Culling Of The Fold
15. I was Meant for the Stage
Posted by Rich at October 27, 2006 11:37 AM
Comments
Sounds awesome. I'll have to go see them next time they play here...
Posted by: J.D. at October 29, 2006 12:16 AM
