Etherised Patient

Anyone who follows me on Twitter will be completely aware that I saw one of my favourite bands, The Decemberists, perform last night. They’ll also have read my total meltdown afterwards (and there’s more where that came from).

We arrived at the venue at 7.00 (doors opened at 8.00), and were second in line. When doors did open we grabbed some pretty, pretty good positions (i.e., directly behind the fence in front of the stage). We then waited for the support band to come on stage. They were called Bridezilla and had a sexy violinist who was in front of me, but there’s not much to report about them apart from that.

At 9.30, The Decemberists came on. During the show, Colin explained that as it was their first time performing in “Melbrrn” (and Australia, even), so they played an assortment of songs from their last three albums (and one EP), rather than focusing on their latest album, The Hazards of Love, which is perfectly fine, of course — Hazards is a gapless concept album, and features guest vocals for many of the songs, anyway. Plus, I wanted to hear a lot of their older stuff.

So! Here’s a rundown of what was performed:

• The Tain
  In all its 20 minutes of glory! Totally didn’t expect them to play this. Colin also looked me in the eye for the first time at some point during the song. How exciting.
• The Sporting Life
  Apparently this was based on an undisclosed member’s experiences in a YMCA soccer team.
• Billy Liar
• The Rake’s Song
  One of my favourite songs from The Hazards of Love. If something from that album was to be played, I wanted it to be this.
• Annan Water
  Second and final song played from Hazards.
• The Crane Wife 1 & 2
• The Crane Wife 3
• O Valencia!
  One of my most favourite Decemberists songs. Perhaps one of my favourite songs ever. I’ve sung it countless times at the top of my lungs while home alone, and seeing it on the set list made me all sorts of happy. At this point, someone behind me fainted and was dragged away. I think he fainted from the sheer awesomeness.
• Sixteen Military Wives
• Encore One — Bye Bye Pride
  Not a Decemberists song, but a cover of a Go-betweens song.
• Encore One — Sons & Daughters
  Seeing this listed on the set list as the last song made me think “really?”, as it’s not what I thought would be a good closer. However, it ended up being the highlight of the night.
• Encore Two — The Mariner’s Revenge Song
  It appears that the second encore was unplanned, as the stage crew had already started to pack up, and the song wasn’t listed on the set list. But I was glad they came back out. The band was crazy in the coolest of ways, acting as if they’d been swallowed by a whale, which is, of course, what the song is about. And this is a nine-minute song, as well as one of my favourites of theirs. And it was one of the songs in which Jenny played accordian!

After it was over (nooo!), the stage crew chucked the set list into the audience, so I had to grab it (I’d planned on yelling at them to give it to me when they were cleaning up, but this worked out better).

In conclusion? Pretty much one of the best nights ever. $63.35 spent very, very well.

More (poor-quality) photos below, full set on Flickr. Turns out I could’ve brought my camera, rather than just my phone, to the venue, as security was not bothered by people taking photos, despite what the Internet said.

(more…)