December in June

On June 13th, I had the pleasure to see my favorite band in concert. Again. It was my third time seeing them and every time they've been wonderful. 

I first discovered The Decemberists through--of all things--the in store playlist at my job. We listened to The Crane Wife for two straight months and I absolutely loved it. I've bought most of their albums since then and have enjoyed listening to their music grow and change. I guess the easiest way to categorize their sound is to call them folk rock, but the band's sound wavers so much from one song to another that that tag doesn't really do them justice. Hailing from Portland, each of the members are multi-instrumentalists and this adds to the complexity of their sound. 

Colin Meloy--the front man, singer, songwriter, all around awesome dude--just oozes charisma on stage. He really makes the audience feel apart of the show. Between songs, he chats with the audience and he's really very funny! I absolutely love his voice and his songwriting abilities leave me in tears sometimes. Literally. 

Sadly, I missed out on buying a poster.
I hope they have extras to sell on
their website soon.

I saw The Decemberists with a few friends at the Merriweather Post Pavillion. It was my first time going to this venue and I hope to go back again soon. It was an awesome place. The stage and a section of seating are under a large roof, with a lawn stretching out beyond that, allowing people to sit on the ground and basically picnic during the show. Since I'm not a fan of sitting on the ground, we paid the extra ten bucks and got seats. And boy were they awesome seats. After a week of sweltering heat, the weather lightened up and it was a cool summer evening, perfect for a concert.

The band played every song on their new album, The King is Dead, except for one, which was all right with me. At the beginning of the show, Colin remarked that they recorded the album in a rainy Portland barn, released it in the dead of winter, but songs were really made for this time of year. Most of the album definitely has a summer feel to it--which is why I didn't listen to the album when I first bought it all those months ago. 

One member of the band, Jenny Conlee, was sadly missed during the concert. She had to skip out on the rest of the tour because of treatment for cancer. To help fill in the gap, Sarah Watkins lent her fiddle and voice to most songs. She did a great job and I was glad to see her do a song from the band's concept album, The Hazards of Love, which is sung by a female vocalist. I was disappointed that I still haven't seen them play The Mariner's Revenge Song, but oh well. It was an awesome show anyway. 

I can't wait for them to come around again, because you can be certain that I will be going again. I was worried that I wasn't going to be able to see them this year, because they didn't announce a Maryland concert until late in the tour. If you get a chance to see them, I highly recommend going. They're absolutely incredible live and I can't wait to see them again!