aeblog

military and maritime

I saw the Decemberists last night at Avalon and though I was encouraged to scream as if I was being eaten by a malevolent whale, I came away feeling much happier than that scenario would have left me.
I'm not going to say the these guys did anything overly ground-breaking (other than the whale, of course), but they put on a tight and entertaining show. Colin Meloy is a talented songwriter and despite ostensibly being from Portland, Oregon, has a bizarre Michael Stipe-ish singing 'accent' and opens his mouth wider than anyone I have ever seen. Sort of like the whale. Thankfully what comes out of that gaping hole is quite pleasant and clever at times.
I'm trying to extend the whale analogy even further past the over-use I have already put it through, but it would be mean to, say, compare the opening act, Rebecca Gates, to a whale. She was not, though during her set was when I felt most like I would prefer to be eaten alive. Yeah, it wasn't very good musically, and on top of that, it took me and my two concert-going compatriots a good ten minutes to firmly determine that she was, in fact, a she. So much for not being mean...
I am looking forward to hearing the Decemberists studio work as this show was well worth attending. Nothing wrong with a little sea-shanty rock to get you through a rainy rainy rain-ishly rainy week.