The Decemberists/The Walkmen/Loch Lomond @ Barton Hall (Cornell) - 11.9.08
With the song I Was Meant For The Stage, from the 2003 album Her Majesty The Decemberists, Colin Meloy proves that he has an accurate self-perception. On this Sunday night in November he took a large, but scattered crowd in the spacious Barton Hall and brought them together with his showmanship and songs. By the end of the night I was convinced that Meloy may very well be the David Lee Roth of the nautical themed, progressive, indie rock scene.
The Decemberists opened with the rise and fall of the Shanty For The Arethusa before launching into the surging July! July!. As the band’s last album was released in 2006 and their new one not due until next spring, Meloy admitted that the setlist would provide a sampling from The Decemberists’ catalogue. Highlights included personal favorites, Here I Dreamt I Was An Architect, (with a tag of Fleetwood Mac’s Dreams as the outro), Leslie Anne Levine, We Both Go Down Together, The Bachelor And The Bride, O Valencia! and 16 Military Wives (with a tease of The Doobie Brothers’ Black Water in the intro). The Island, an epic worthy of Yes-era prog, provided an impressive showcase of the band’s talent and was followed by Dracula’s Daughter, “the worst song I ever wrote” as the singer introduces it on Colin Meloy Sings Live.
In a large and open hall the band commanded the crowd’s attention with their musicianship, the best-of set and Meloy’s showmanship. Clearly excited by the results of the recent election, he inspired crowd participation during a number of songs, including: O Valencia!, The Perfect Crime #2 and Valerie Plame, to mention a few. He also climbed the ladder to the lighting rig at one point to sing high above the crowd. The only thing missing was a Jack Daniels bass (please see the Van Halen video Panama for clarification).
The setlist did include some new material, however, as Valerie Plame (complete with Hey Jude outro), O New England, Record Year and Raincoat Song, all from this fall’s EP series Always The Bridesmaid, rounded out the setlist. The following link leads to video of Valerie Plame from the show:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sPjsLD0ug8&feature=related
Certain songs are meant to be closers, and Sons And Daughters, the last track from The Crane Wife, is one of them. A hopeful song that builds from a melancholy foundation, it also allowed Meloy one last opportunity to include the crowd in a sing along with its closing lyrics (“Hear all the bombs, they fade away”).
The show opened with Loch Lomond, a band hailing from The Decemberists stomping ground of Portland, Oregon, that sounds like the offspring of Sufjan Stevens and The Decemberists. Their opening set inspired me to check out their latest album, Paper The Walls, with the strong opening track, Carl Sagan.
Sandwiched In the middle of these two bands from the Pacific Northwest with thematic, sonic and geographic connections was The Walkmen. Playing between those two bands may not have been the ideal setting to win over new fans, but The Walkmen, with their dark and atmospheric sound, gave a solid performance culling material mostly from this year’s strong effort, You & Me.
Having seen The Walkmen once before at Cornell, touring for Bows + Arrows and playing in a much smaller room, they seemed comfortable handling the larger venue and crowd. My only disappointment from The Walkmen’s set was the absence of The Rat. Normally I try not to nitpick a band’s song selection too much, they know what they are doing, but The Rat should be required at any Walkmen performance. I understand their reasons to not play it at every show, but it is easily one of the best rock songs of the decade and it would have been interesting to see the crowd’s reaction to it after seeming mildly enthused throughout the set. They did play We’ve Been Had, so I guess that filled the role of back catalogue crowd pleaser for the night.
Overall, the show was a solid triple bill that introduced me to a new band and allowed me to see a band that has matured in sound and perfomance since I saw them last. The night, however, belonged to The Decemberists due to their strong set and stage presence.
With the song I Was Meant For The Stage, from the 2003 album Her Majesty The Decemberists, Colin Meloy proves that he has an accurate self-perception. On this Sunday night in November he took a large, but scattered crowd in the spacious Barton Hall and brought them together with his showmanship and songs. By the end of the night I was convinced that Meloy may very well be the David Lee Roth of the nautical themed, progressive, indie rock scene.
The Decemberists opened with the rise and fall of the Shanty For The Arethusa before launching into the surging July! July!. As the band’s last album was released in 2006 and their new one not due until next spring, Meloy admitted that the setlist would provide a sampling from The Decemberists’ catalogue. Highlights included personal favorites, Here I Dreamt I Was An Architect, (with a tag of Fleetwood Mac’s Dreams as the outro), Leslie Anne Levine, We Both Go Down Together, The Bachelor And The Bride, O Valencia! and 16 Military Wives (with a tease of The Doobie Brothers’ Black Water in the intro). The Island, an epic worthy of Yes-era prog, provided an impressive showcase of the band’s talent and was followed by Dracula’s Daughter, “the worst song I ever wrote” as the singer introduces it on Colin Meloy Sings Live.
In a large and open hall the band commanded the crowd’s attention with their musicianship, the best-of set and Meloy’s showmanship. Clearly excited by the results of the recent election, he inspired crowd participation during a number of songs, including: O Valencia!, The Perfect Crime #2 and Valerie Plame, to mention a few. He also climbed the ladder to the lighting rig at one point to sing high above the crowd. The only thing missing was a Jack Daniels bass (please see the Van Halen video Panama for clarification).
The setlist did include some new material, however, as Valerie Plame (complete with Hey Jude outro), O New England, Record Year and Raincoat Song, all from this fall’s EP series Always The Bridesmaid, rounded out the setlist. The following link leads to video of Valerie Plame from the show:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sPjsLD0ug8&feature=related
Certain songs are meant to be closers, and Sons And Daughters, the last track from The Crane Wife, is one of them. A hopeful song that builds from a melancholy foundation, it also allowed Meloy one last opportunity to include the crowd in a sing along with its closing lyrics (“Hear all the bombs, they fade away”).
The show opened with Loch Lomond, a band hailing from The Decemberists stomping ground of Portland, Oregon, that sounds like the offspring of Sufjan Stevens and The Decemberists. Their opening set inspired me to check out their latest album, Paper The Walls, with the strong opening track, Carl Sagan.
Sandwiched In the middle of these two bands from the Pacific Northwest with thematic, sonic and geographic connections was The Walkmen. Playing between those two bands may not have been the ideal setting to win over new fans, but The Walkmen, with their dark and atmospheric sound, gave a solid performance culling material mostly from this year’s strong effort, You & Me.
Having seen The Walkmen once before at Cornell, touring for Bows + Arrows and playing in a much smaller room, they seemed comfortable handling the larger venue and crowd. My only disappointment from The Walkmen’s set was the absence of The Rat. Normally I try not to nitpick a band’s song selection too much, they know what they are doing, but The Rat should be required at any Walkmen performance. I understand their reasons to not play it at every show, but it is easily one of the best rock songs of the decade and it would have been interesting to see the crowd’s reaction to it after seeming mildly enthused throughout the set. They did play We’ve Been Had, so I guess that filled the role of back catalogue crowd pleaser for the night.
Overall, the show was a solid triple bill that introduced me to a new band and allowed me to see a band that has matured in sound and perfomance since I saw them last. The night, however, belonged to The Decemberists due to their strong set and stage presence.
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