The Decemberists

Greg enjoying a balmy Boston summer night.

By some miracle (thanks Mom and Dad!) Greg and I acutally went out alone last night and viewed an excellent show by alternative rock band The Decemberists. The concert was in South Boston, at Harborlights (OK, so it's now the Bank of America Pavilion, but Harborlights sounds so much better, doesn't it?). This is a medium sized venue overlooking Boston Harbor, and is roofed, but open on three sides. On a nice day, this is a beautiful spot to see a show. Unfortunately last night was not such a night. Even lead singer Colin Meloy, born in Montana and currently a resident of Portland, Oregon, poked fun at us "Northern People", assuring us that it was summer elsewhere in the country.

The first half of the show consisted of a nonstop rendition of their new album "The Hazards of Love". Luckily, my smart and musically minded husband foresaw this, and bought the album last week. A lot of the Decemberists' music sort of grows on you, and listening to the new album several times over the weekend greatly increased my enjoyment and understanding during this part of the show. We were thrilled to see the entire story told start to finish, and figure we probably will never get another opportunity to do so (the fabulous female singers who contributed to this album are not part of the group, and probably will not participate in the next tour).

Decemberists' front man Colin Meloy
in a playful spotlight struggle with Chris
Funk, during the 2nd half of the show.

The second half of the show was much more relaxed. They played some well known favorites such as "The Barrow Boy" (Rebecca was thrilled when we told her - this is her favorite Decemberists song!), and "Valencia". Colin engaged the crowd in a lot of playful banter, and played a snippet from "the worst song I (Colin) ever wrote", "Dracula's Daughter". Colin and guitarist Chris Funk even shared their guitars with members of the audience, including one lucky guy who was brought up on stage and forced to play Funk's guitar with a beer bottle.

All in all, it was a great show. It was worth braving the weather, and we are looking forward to the next time The Decemberists roll into town.