Oh Colin...

So yes, I was privileged enough to go to The Decemberists at the Crystal Ballroom on Saturday with my English friend Piet. We got in free as his sister-in-law Kim is a top-notch photographer and she was able to get us on the guestlist! It was amazing! So come showtime, the place is packed out with people of all ages (from about 10 years old - up to 50 yrs.) I never knew that The Decemberists had such a diverse fanbase. They rule, so I guess everyone listens to them.

After the opening act (Loch Lomond - wasn't digging 'em all that much, although Piet did) shuffled off and we were forced to wait for what seemed like hours, they took the stage to clatterings and chiming and all sorts of mish-mashings of sound and funkiness which eventually coalesced into Shanty For the Arethusa! They kept up the pace with a little Billy Liar action and followed it with Here I Dreamt I Was An Architect. After that trifecta of awesomeness, Colin and crew played 3 new songs from their Always The Bridesmaid singles series in succession of brilliance - Valerie Plame, O New England, and Record Year. Each of these new songs showed a poppier, sunnier, and some may say Belle & Sebastian-esque side of The Decemberists. I was thoroughly enjoying meself. Following the new ones, they busted out The Island: Come and See/The Landlord's Daughter/You'll Not Feel The Drowning in all its 12 minute glory. Then they launched into The Engine Driver to much applause by me and everyone in attendance. Sadly, they didn't play On The Bus Mall. I was lucky enough to snag the set list at the end of the show and On The Bus Mall was listed in between The Engine Driver and the song they ended up playing after it was a new one called Days of Elaine. They hopped back to Crane Wife with The Perfect Crime # 2, then a song I recently heard for the first time but wasn't on Crane wife called The Culling Of The Fold. Earlier in the show, people had yelled out "Valenica! Play Valencia!" as in their song O Valenica! Someone else responded by saying, "Play whatever the fuck you want!" They did play O Valencia! later on and we all sang dutifully along. Their song before the encore was 16 Military Wives, one of my favs off Picaresque. Colin would hold his hand up to his head and salute right before the chorus and we'd all salute with him. Colin was hilarious and had amazing audience relation skills. He got everyone to sing all together at the end of Billy Liar. He was a bit wary of the balcony people and said, "I didn't hear you people in the balcony. I know it was low but I'm keeping my eye on you tonight. I'm concerned. I feel like you're not gonna be fully involved in this. That's very troubling to me. You look like you're up to no good. So I'm keeping my eye on you." After thinking it couldn't get any better, Colin and John the drummer came out and did a short song called Raincoat, then the full band came back out and they topped the whole thing off with Sons & Daughters! All their friends, and family, and Loch Lomond came on and we all sang the last line of the song together, "Here all the bombs fade away" It was bliss. Pure unbridled bliss. I went home that night with a hop in my step and a flutter in my chest. What a great spectacle it was. Plus I got the set list from a ravenous group of teenage girls. It couldn't have ended up any better. Thank you Colin, Jenny, John, Nate and Chris for giving me the show of a lifetime!