Night two of the two-night stand - same venue, same bands, different experience, but just as good.
First of all, no apocalyptic downpours just before the show, no loss of electricity at home, no gridlocked, downtown traffic. I arrived at the show in a much better frame of mind, and got there early enough to get a significantly better spot, about three rows of people back from the stage, as opposed to the approximately 10 rows of the night before.
Just like Friday night, Alvvays took the stage a few minutes before 8:00, and they played a nearly identical set. I didn't notice any difference, except possibly in Molly Rankin's stage banter.
Just like Friday night, The Decemberists took that stage at 9:00 pm sharp, introduced by a short excerpt from some Bolshevik anthem or another. Once again, Colin Meloy initially took the stage solo to perform The Singer Addresses His Audience from 2015's What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World, and once again the band members individually came on stage at their appropriate times to join in on the song.
Differences is the set list manifest themselves by the second song of the set, which last night was Cavalry Captain, the second song of What a Terrible World. A trumpet player, who never once graced the stage the night before, appeared at the far edge of the stage to provide the horn part to the song.
There were a few other differences as well, including the omission of Philomena, my least favorite song from What a Terrible World and quite possibly my least favorite Decemberists song. They also performed different portions of The Crane's Wife and The Hazards of Love. On the latter, Kelly Hogan provided the vocals for Margaret In The Taiga, whereas the previous night her companion backup singer Rachel Flotard just about brought down the house as The Forest Queen during The Wanting Comes in Waves/Repaid. Fortunately, the Hazards of Love passages in both shows concluded with The Rake's Song and Meloy orchestrating an audience hand-clapping performance.
The overall performances from both nights were so good and there were enough differences in the set lists that going to hear the same two bands on two consecutive nights didn't seem at all repetitious. In fact, not only did it actually enhance both nights (anticipating the next night on the first, and recalling the first night on the second) but I can't imagine a better way to have experienced the event.
I brought along my little point-and-shoot digital camera for night two, so I hope that the quality of my pictures from last night's show is a little bit better than that of the first night.
And finally, this:
And finally, this:
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