The Decemberists at The Coronet
The Decemberists
The Coronet, 19 December 2009
After the disappointment of the Monsters Of Folk show, with the awful venue, overbearing security and general unfriendliness towards the audience, I was feeling a bit disillusioned by the whole gig-going experience and was so reluctant to shuffle up and see the next show on my schedule, The Decemberists at yet another old cinema-turned-venue, I even missed the support act, Emmy The Great, a girl I would have actually really liked to have seen any other day (apparently, so I'm told, she had problems with the sound during her set, so it wasn't her best performance and I didn't miss much on this particular night).
Thankfully though The Decemberists with their overwhelming enthusiasm and energy made me a believer again. Hallelujah! And this was everything a gig should be: good feeling among the crowd, absolutely fantastic sound in the venue and the band performing their hearts out. Add to this the fact that frontman Colin Meloy is one hell of a showman - talkative, funny, entertaining and sweet - and you have for one hell of a show.
We walked in during the opening strains of the beginnings of the album Hazards Of Love and it sounded completely glorious. They then continued to play the entire album, non-stop, start to finish and it was a complete tour de force. Years ago I saw The Who perform Quadrophenia in its entirety, complete with guest appearances from various vocalists, and it was a utterly magical experience. This reminded me a lot of that night and The Decemberists too had their cast of characters, in particular My Brightest Diamond's Shara Worden was utterly spellbinding as the evil forest queen. Her voice is just phenomenal, soaring, beautiful and full of feeling, she could teach the Leona Lewises of this world a thing or two. There weren't props or anything, the story was told purely through the voices and the performance, but they did all look cool and appropriate: Colin smart in his suit and tie, Shara black and glittery in a one-shouldered number and Lavender Diamond's Becky Stark (who also provided some fantastic vocals as the princess-like Margaret character), looking floaty and ethereal, like a modern-day Stevie Nicks, in her white dress.
A some points during the heavier numbers it was almost like seeing a vintage metal band at the Hammersmith Apollo back in the 70s: it was loud but beautiful, and unexpected from the usually pretty folksy band, my favourite moment probably being Worden's wailing Repaid. Even the instrumental numbers kept the crowd enthralled and by the time we had reached the closing number, the gorgeous hymn-like The Hazards Of Love 4 (The Drowned) it was unbelievable that an hour had flown by so quickly. The whole thing was magical and majestic but it wasn't over yet.
After a short break, during which we were able to make our way closer to the front, the band re-emerged to play some songs from their back catalogue. It was never going to be easy to live up to the first half of the show, and while it didn't quite match it, it was still better than I've seen most bands. This time, without a non-stop album to get through, Meloy was chatty and full of fun, in particular he managed to orchestrate the crowd, in the most successful way I've ever seen at a concert, to sing various harmonies on the song Billy Liar, even getting different parts of the audience to go lower or louder just through moving his hands. The fact that Meloy has such great rapport with his fans is refreshing and lovely to see, and all too rare these days.
The show ended on a treat, apparently a rare one too although I had seen them perform it before a few years back in a similar way. But this time was even better: The Mariner's Revenge Song, a Moby Dick-style tale of hunting a whale, during which the crowd passed around a huge inflatable whale (which some audience member had thoughtfully brought along - we saw him amusingly standing with it in the queue). Once again Meloy rallied everyone to scream as though we were being swallowed by a whale, which everyone did with great enthusiasm and fun. I looked around, and like The Flaming Lips show earlier this month, there was not one person without a huge grin on their face. This is what music and live shows should be like, so thank you to The Decemberists for living up to that and more.
An absolutely magnificent show.
Thankfully though The Decemberists with their overwhelming enthusiasm and energy made me a believer again. Hallelujah! And this was everything a gig should be: good feeling among the crowd, absolutely fantastic sound in the venue and the band performing their hearts out. Add to this the fact that frontman Colin Meloy is one hell of a showman - talkative, funny, entertaining and sweet - and you have for one hell of a show.
We walked in during the opening strains of the beginnings of the album Hazards Of Love and it sounded completely glorious. They then continued to play the entire album, non-stop, start to finish and it was a complete tour de force. Years ago I saw The Who perform Quadrophenia in its entirety, complete with guest appearances from various vocalists, and it was a utterly magical experience. This reminded me a lot of that night and The Decemberists too had their cast of characters, in particular My Brightest Diamond's Shara Worden was utterly spellbinding as the evil forest queen. Her voice is just phenomenal, soaring, beautiful and full of feeling, she could teach the Leona Lewises of this world a thing or two. There weren't props or anything, the story was told purely through the voices and the performance, but they did all look cool and appropriate: Colin smart in his suit and tie, Shara black and glittery in a one-shouldered number and Lavender Diamond's Becky Stark (who also provided some fantastic vocals as the princess-like Margaret character), looking floaty and ethereal, like a modern-day Stevie Nicks, in her white dress.
A some points during the heavier numbers it was almost like seeing a vintage metal band at the Hammersmith Apollo back in the 70s: it was loud but beautiful, and unexpected from the usually pretty folksy band, my favourite moment probably being Worden's wailing Repaid. Even the instrumental numbers kept the crowd enthralled and by the time we had reached the closing number, the gorgeous hymn-like The Hazards Of Love 4 (The Drowned) it was unbelievable that an hour had flown by so quickly. The whole thing was magical and majestic but it wasn't over yet.
After a short break, during which we were able to make our way closer to the front, the band re-emerged to play some songs from their back catalogue. It was never going to be easy to live up to the first half of the show, and while it didn't quite match it, it was still better than I've seen most bands. This time, without a non-stop album to get through, Meloy was chatty and full of fun, in particular he managed to orchestrate the crowd, in the most successful way I've ever seen at a concert, to sing various harmonies on the song Billy Liar, even getting different parts of the audience to go lower or louder just through moving his hands. The fact that Meloy has such great rapport with his fans is refreshing and lovely to see, and all too rare these days.
The show ended on a treat, apparently a rare one too although I had seen them perform it before a few years back in a similar way. But this time was even better: The Mariner's Revenge Song, a Moby Dick-style tale of hunting a whale, during which the crowd passed around a huge inflatable whale (which some audience member had thoughtfully brought along - we saw him amusingly standing with it in the queue). Once again Meloy rallied everyone to scream as though we were being swallowed by a whale, which everyone did with great enthusiasm and fun. I looked around, and like The Flaming Lips show earlier this month, there was not one person without a huge grin on their face. This is what music and live shows should be like, so thank you to The Decemberists for living up to that and more.
An absolutely magnificent show.
Comments
Post a Comment