We went to see the Decemberists on the Friday night of our last Chicago cultural weekend; 3/27, my brother’s birthday.
It was my call – I wanted to see them. I like the Decemberists because they’ve played with the other artists who I really follow – Peter Buck and Robyn Hitchcock, primarily. And, although I think he comes to it by way of reading and being an English & creative writing major, Colin Meloy has that folk rock musicologist outlook on music that I like – he can write songs that sound like traditional folk songs by way of rock & pop. They didn’t do any on Friday, but it also means he chooses interesting covers.
The show was at the Chicago Theater, which was a pleasant upgrade from the Riviera, where we saw the Punch Brothers in February. One of the crumbling movie palaces in Chicago, that now mostly have live music, the Riviera, the Uptown (closed, but I saw the Grateful Dead there in 1978), and the Aragon Ballroom, in a three block radius, and the Vic, a little further south, and a little less crumbled.
The Chicago Theater seemed spotless in comparison. We were in the 2nd balcony. There was a young couple next to us, and during the opening act (Alvvays, from Toronto – I liked their guitar player and chick singer a lot; their drummer was a smasher), the woman warned me that they’d probably be kind of loud, and I should just let her know if they bothered us. I said I’d probably do a set list in my phone (below) for the Decemberists, so I’d be lighting up, and she said that’d be OK. Later, at the break, I think because I’m old, she asked if I’d been listening to the Decemberists for a long time. I said not that long – I mean, they’ve been playing for like 10 years, and I didn’t really listen to them until 2009 or so – and I got into them because Peter Buck is on the King is Dead. To which she said get outta town – she had no idea – even though she pretty much knew every word to every song, and sang along loudly. Which I might’ve hated on, but Meloy asked us all not to. She knew the words to the two (out of three) from the King is Dead that Buck plays on, what I always call arms of the angels, but is really Calamity Song, and Down by the Water. And Decemberists’re pals with Robyn Hitchcock, and Gillian Welch, too.
Anyways, at the end of the long Crane Wife song cycle, I kind of looked back at them and they were making out, so I thought, OK, I’ll look away. But when we sat back down, she turned to me, and said excitedly, “He just proposed to me!” and showed me the ring in the box. I shook hands with both of them and said congratulations. We discussed whether she should wear the ring on her right or left hand.
I liked their backdrop, although it made me nostalgic for the days when I thought I’d be making that kind of stuff for bands. When I had a guitar player boyfriend, and I painted all the guys in the band’s guitar cases, and sewed them shirts, and patched their jeans. The backdrop was a quilt, with holes cut into it so things could show through, worlds, birds, and heroic females, like the cover of the new album.
Here’s the set list:
The singer addresses his audience
Calvary captain
Down by the water
Oh hank –> arms of the Angels; really Calamity Song
Till the water’s all long gone
Philomena
Hazards of love – wanting comes in waves; really The Wrong Year
Make you better
The crane wife 3
I called it – Dirty jam –> pirates shipwreck
The Island: Come and See/The Landlord’s Daughter/You’ll Not Feel the Drowning/I will dress your eyelids
Los Angeles, I’m Yours
Carolina Low
The wanting comes in waves – repaid
Rake’s progress
16 military wives
A Beginning Song – I called get yourself to rights
Encore
What a gift – 12/17/12
The Mariner’s Revenge Song – with kids and a whale who all danced across the stage
I guess the Minus 5 opened for the Decemberists this tour out in Portland – and WTF, how did I miss this, the Minus 5 were here in Madison at the beginning of the month, playing in a basement (uploaded by Steve Manley of B-Side). I guess by the time I got the email from Yep Roc, the show here had already happened, and the one with Tweedy in Chicago sold in 5 seconds. But I’m really sorry I missed them – after all, those guys are as old as me, Scott McCaughey & Peter Buck are anyways, so I wouldn’t of felt so old.
