A Girl With a Sword

here on these cliffs of dover

Tonight Sarah and I went to see The Decemberists. The venue was actually right across the street from Fenway Park. It was one of those big clubs and, as we were surrounded by high schoolers, I was very skeptical about how the show would go. But before the show we made friendly comments to the people around us, and I began to feel better. The opening band, Cass McCombs, was loudly cheered and encouraged, even though I could tell not many people in the audience had heard them before. They were quiet and happy and hard to pay attention to. The pause between them and the Decemberists was long, but filled with Peter and the Wolf. That kind of made me feel better about the venue.

The show started with The Tain. It was amazing live. They came out, pranced around the stage a bit, then went straight into the song. It really seemed almost more of a play than a song as they switched around instuments and parts, and one point the drummer lay on the floor and waved his feet around in the air. After The Tain and thunderous applause they launched into We Both Go Down Together and then Leslie Anne Levine. At which point Colin stopped and pointed out that the audience seemed to like songs about doomed love, then encouraged us not to go drowning ourselves or jumping off cliffs. Then doomed love continued with The Bachelor and the Bride, Bagman's Gambit, and Eli, the Barrow Boy. During Bagman's Gambit the violinist did a little tribute to Peter and the Wolf that was greatly appreciated by the audience.

They played through most of Picaresque, with July, July! and Shiny thrown in. I was glad they got to On the Bus Mall. The show was so upbeat I wasn't sure if it would fit, but they played it right after Engine Driver, and the sober mood of the song didn't feel awkward. Infanta is so different live. When I first heard it on the album I wasn't sure if it was the same song I had heard at their concert. There's just so much pomp going on, and I always feel like I can see the elephants and the princess. And I really liked The Sporting Life tonight, I haven't really liked it so much when I've heard it before. It's the kind of song you need to dance to to really enjoy. This audience were dancers. It's nice to have the assurance that that's not just a Covenant thing. Although it was strange not to be getting Evan's elbow in my face all the time. They ended with A Cautionary Song, and the drummer and guitarist headed out into the audience with a drum and some cymbals. Then they did Mariner's Revenge song for the much demanded encore, complete with screaming on cue. Everyone seemed to have a good time. At one point Colin paused before a song for the violinist to come back to her microphone. "Are you finished high-fiving the crowd?" he asked, then he turned to the audience, "She does this thing every night where she has to high-five everyone in the front row." He turned back to her, "Go on then, get it over with." You could tell the violinist wasn't at all sure where he was getting this, but all night he was just going with some kind of flow in his head and he just carried everyone along with him.

I decided going to see The Decemberists can totally count as my studying for the GRE for today. I hope the GRE uses the word palanquin.