The Decemberists' show at the Orpheum this past Thursday went extremely well, despite the band's best attempts to sabotage it.
Throughout the night, the band missed cues, forgot lyrics and took long pauses between songs, but somehow it didn't matter. The Decemberists lived up to their reputation as a great live band by supplementing their whimsical music with a big dose of crowd participation.
Mellow folkster Cass McCombs started the night off with an extremely low-key set of haunting neo-ballads. McCombs' acoustic guitar was augmented only by bass, tambourine and trombone provided by his two-person backing band. The echoing melodies impressed those with enough patience to listen, but didn't really warm up the crowd for The Decemberists' nerdy folk-pop onslaught.
For the better part of the '90s, Weezer was the undisputed king of geek-rock bands. But since Rivers Cuomo and company are now hanging out with Playboy bunnies, the torch has undoubtedly been passed to these wordy indie-rockers. The Decemberists don't rock as hard as Weezer, but they combine epic songs with self-deprecating humor like no one else.
The band took the stage to eerie, recorded sounds of howling winds, banging on tambourines, drums and marching cymbals. Once everyone was in place, the band launched into the sea-tale "Shanty For The Arethusa."
The band continued on a lighter note with the jock-mocking "The Sporting Life." Only rhythm guitarist and lead vocalist Colin Meloy could sing lines like "I fell on the playing field / The work of an errant heel" convincingly enough to sound good.
The music was good, with a pleasant pop-rock feel augmented by touches of violin, organ, accordion, banjo, mandolin and melodica (a cross between a harmonica and a keyboard). But the band's real appeal lay in Meloy's lyrics, which read like a Victorian novel.
In fact, the whole concert was really the Colin Meloy Show, with the spectacled bookworm-turned-rocker singing heartfelt lyrics about exotic adventures and bygone eras. His pure voice and tongue-in-cheek approach to his overwrought verse completely sold the audience. Meloy even forgot a lyric and had to stop momentarily during the acoustic ballad "Eli, The Barrow Boy," but the crowd simply laughed it off.
The band's decidedly anti-rockstar image fit the music perfectly. Though based in Portland, Ore., the Decembrists seem to fancy themselves as British, with lead guitarist Brian Funk and bassist Nate Query dressed like button-down country squires. Meloy looked like an overgrown schoolboy in his peppermint-striped suit coat. Drummer John Moen sported a jovial beard that matched his demeanor.
The two female members of the band were dressed more normally. Keyboardist Jenny Conlee impressed by grooving with her accordion Bootsy-Collins style. Violinist and backup singer Petra Haden slapped high-fives with the audience and playfully beat Meloy in the ass with her tambourine, but at times seemed detached and bored.
Nevertheless, Haden harmonized beautifully with Meloy throughout the show. During a pause in the catchy anti-war song "Sixteen Military Wives," the two playfully inserted the line "This is a wonderful show," before jumping back into the main tune.
There wasn't a dud song in the set, but the band's momentum was constantly derailed by technical problems, first with Conlee's and then Meloy's equipment. Luckily, Meloy and guitarist Funk managed to keep the crowd entertained with witty banter.
"So far it's been a meandering show," Meloy said after the first three songs. "From now on it'll be a more professional show … I'm buttoning up my stripéd jacket."
Later on, Funk was ordered to tell the audience an "amusing anecdote" because of tuning problems. "We play a game on the bus called 'Magic Bunk,' but I can't tell you about that," Funk deadpanned.
Funk also got the crowd to clap along at several points during the show, but that was hardly the extent of the Decembrists' crowd participation.
Meloy went so far as to invite a good portion of the audience onstage for crowd favorite "The Chimbley Sweep." Once the stage was packed with concertgoers, Meloy had everyone sit down for the soft beginning of the song. Once the band kicked in, the entire audience spontaneously jumped to their feet. Meloy later thanked the crowd by saying, "You've been a well-dressed, reasonably-quaffed, favorably … political crowd."
The band left the stage after "The Chimbley Sweep," but was soon back for an encore. Before they began playing "The Mariner's Revenge," Meloy instructed the audience to "scream like you're being eaten by a whale" whenever they saw Funk make an eating motion with a huge pair of crudely-constructed whale jaws. A practice round ensued. "Brian has reported that the balcony doesn't have it, they're all too stoned," Meloy said, and made the crowd scream several times.
The show even included ritualistic instrument destruction. Funk sorrowfully told the crowd that this was the last night he'd play his blue mandolin, and the band played a game of piggy-in-the-middle with it after the song, before smashing it and throwing the splinters into the audience.
Funk was left holding the neck, which he put just out of reach on the edge of the stage, drawing it along by the strings. To the audience's general delight, several fans up front stretched for it in vain before someone jumped onstage and seized it.
Overall, despite minor technical difficulties and setbacks, The Decemberists delivered a night of fun, both for the band and the energetic audience.
