Where do I even start? I'll say right from the outset that this was one of the best shows ever. I've wanted to see The Decemberists for years, but ironically, the last time they played Atlanta (actually, the misbegotten, suburban Cobb Energy Center), I was in their hometown of Portland, Oregon for MFNW (RIP). Our paths have managed to miss each other ever since, and then the band took a hiatus for a couple years. I managed to catch most of the members performing as Black Prairie at Eddie's Attic during that hiatus, and saw frontman Colin Meloy perform a set of Decemberist songs at Variety Playhouse, but seeing them all together was one of my "bucket list" wishes, one that was finally granted last night.
It was worth the wait.
That's the positive way to begin. Here's the negative: the 60 or 90 or so minutes before the show began were some of the most miserable of this still young year. Everything was fine until about 6:30 pm when I stepped out of an Arden's Garden store with a fresh smoothie in hand and into one of the most intense downpours I can remember. I got totally soaked running the 15 or so feet from the store's door to my car, and when I got home, of course the electricity was out (a tree fell on Collier Road during the downpour). I changed my clothes in the near dark, managed to find my ticket, and headed toward the Tabernacle, only to get stuck in gridlocked downtown traffic. I don't know what else was going on in town last night (there was a Braves' game, but I was on the opposite side of town from the stadium), but the cars were simply not moving. The traffic light in front of me changed about a half dozen times, but not one car managed to make it through. I finally managed to make a U-turn out of the line of cars and drive around in only slightly better downtown traffic until I finally found a parking garage several blocks away from where I wanted to be, but I pulled in anyway figuring I was better off on foot than in that gridlock.
Even Molly Rankin, frontwoman for show-opener Alvvays, asked the audience what was up with people from Atlanta just leaving their cars in lanes of traffic, backing everything up.
We've seen Toronto's Alvvays once before, opening for Yuck at The Earl. This, obviously, was a far larger venue for the band, and they filled the stage nicely, seeming not just comfortable but downright accustomed to playing before such a large crowd.
For some reason, the Tabernacle backlit Alvvays' entire performance with purple lights aimed at the audience which, in combo with the post-deluge humidity, cast a haze over the stage making normal photography nearly impossible (even with my brand-new iPhone 6).
Lighting was better for The Decemberists - in fact, the stage set was downright lovely. The backdrop was the cover of their new album, What A Terrible World, What A Beautiful World, and just by subtle manipulations of the light, different dominant colors emerged from the quilt-like backdrop and onto the performers themselves.
The show opened with Meloy on stage alone, performing the new album's opener The Singer Addresses His Audience. By the time he got to the first chorus, he was jointed on stage by backup singers Rachel Flotard and our old friend Kelly Hogan (familiar to many as Neko Case's supporting vocalist and on-stage foil). The rest of the band came on stage at various moments, bringing the song to a joyful climax not hinted at on the album version.
What A Terrible World is not The Decemberists' best album, but it's been growing on me with each successive listen. However, any concerns that the band was only going to play songs from the new album were quickly dispelled when they launched into back-to-back renditions of Down By The Water and Calamity Song from 2011's The King Is Dead, and the remaining set included songs from nearly every phase of the band's long history, even going back to Here I Dreamt I Was An Architect from 2002's Castaways and Cutouts.
A sure sign that you're in the hands of a great band is when you find yourself thinking "This is my favorite song of theirs" over and over again as each successive song kicks off. Almost the entire night was like that for me.
Those "this-is-their-best-song" moments may have been frequent, but one of the stand-out moments was their performance of The Wanting Comes In Waves/Repaid from 2009's The Hazards of Love, followed immediately by an appropriately raucous and rousing version of The Rake's Song.
The most notable aspect of the recorded version of The Wanting Comes In Waves is of course Shara Worden's guest vocals, and backup singer Rachel Flotard absolutely nailed it. Worden left some pretty big shoes to fill with her powerful singing in the role as The Forest Queen, but Flotard managed to not only fill those shoes, but deliver a live performance that was almost indistinguishable from Worden's recorded version. I doubt I was the only one with goose-bumps on my arms during the song.
There were almost too many such stand-out moments to recall, but other highlights included 16 Military Wives, Make You Better, and Los Angeles I'm Yours. Meloy announced early in the show that the set would by "a journey" by both band and audience, and the nearly 90-minute show felt exactly like that.
To my surprise, the band didn't perform Lake Song, the stand-out song from their What A Terrible World. I also kept waiting to hear the opening to June Hymn from The King Is Dead, but never did. These are not complaints, though - it's always best for artists to leave their audience wanting a little more.
Hilariously, during the encore-ending Mariner's Revenge Song, Hogan and Flotard carried a huge puppet whale onto the stage, which ate all the band except Meloy, the song's narrator. The song also featured audience participation (a timed scream at the appearance of the whale), lots of hammy, campy mugging by the band, and a joyous, rocking finale to close out the evening.
The electricity was still out at my house when I got home, so I headed back out to a local dive bar and watched the 10 extra innings of the 19-inning marathon Red Sox/Yankees baseball game until well after 2 a.m. The Red Sox won with a Mookie Betts fly ball, capping off a terrific evening that started horribly but wound up ending triumphantly. And when I got back home again from watching the game, the electricity was finally back on.
But here's the best part: last night was only the first of a two-night stand, and I get to experience The Decemberists' show again tonight!
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