The Decemberists

As a fan of the most recent album from The Decemberists (“The Hazards of Love”) – and having been even more into it’s predecessor “The Crane Wife” – I was expecting a good show on Wednesday night.  What I ended up with FAR exceeded my expectations.

The night began with The Heartless Bastards playing their first note at the exact moment that we arrived – nice of them to not waste any of our time.  They always sound great live but with the help of the Overture Center – it was even better.

The Overture Center itself was, as expected, both a blessing and a curse.  Aside from the now famous sippy cups, the sound at the venue was just perfect (both bands) and despite arriving “right on time” and being in the back of the 3rd balcony – we could see well enough.  The “strangeness” of the venue was noticed mostly during the Heartless Bastard’s set.  Between the entire audience remaining seated + no talking during (and barely between) numbers for an opener — it was just a “weird” feeling.  but hey: they sounded great and I’ve always been a fan of sitting for shows anyway, so I’ll quit my complaining.

The venue fit The Decemberists much better as they (first) performed their much publicized “rock opera”.  Heading into the night, this was the part that I was most unsure of.  Really seemed like playing the album start-to-end without even a break between songs was something that could come off wrong, let alone with increased theatrics.  It. Was. Awesome.  The incredible sound (yes, it really does warrant repeating this many times) and great execution from the band really made it a wonderful experience.

Following the “opera” and an intermission, they returned to play a full 10-song set, mostly centered on their previous album with a few others (including “Crazy on You”, from Heart) thrown in for good measure.  This pretty much covered all my favorites and then some providing a great wind down to the show.

Highly recommend catching this show if it’s headed your way – best show I’ve seen this year.

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