Last week, I went to see The Decemberists at Meymandi Concert hall in downtown Raleigh. My friend Jordan, Joel and his girlfriend Rachelle (sp), Jordan’s friend Mike, and my sister Sachi came along as well. My Brightest Diamond opened, the same opening band for the Sufjan Stevens concert I attended last semester.
The concert was an absolute joy. Before the band came on stage, we heard the proud notes of the Soviet Union national anthem. The band took the stage and played for over 35 minutes continuously — seven songs, six as part of two three part songs. I always harbored some suspicious whether the Decemberists would be able to match their unique sound on stage, and they exceeded all my expectations. I honestly felt as if I were truly listening to some of the songs for the first time.
Also a surprisingly delight was the carefree banter lead singer Colin and the rest of the band would engage in. They talked about their last stop in the Triangle area, made humor at guitarists Chris Funk, got the whole auditorium out of their chairs. Many times throughout the concert band members would act out parts of their narrative highly literate songs. Each band member often swapped out instruments, sometimes mid-song.
Near the end, Colin invited up people on stage to help sing the last part of Sons & Daughters. Nearly 50 people got up on stage amongst the band members, and one lucky girl got to share the mic with Colin on stage. The band reached back towards Picaresque for their encore, and they treated the whole audience with their final song of the night: The Mariner’s Revenge Song. Colin helped train the whole audience to lament and moan for the special ‘whale swallowing’ part of the song. Then, as the part approached, the opening band came out from behind stage under a giant whale costume! Imagine one of those Chinese dragons except as a giant whale, and it proceeded to stomp around the stage attacking the band!
Though I have not been to many concerts, The Decemberists truly know how to put on a memorable show that is just pure fun.
Besides the Decemberists concert, I have been putting serious hours into my senior design project. Deadlines are coming fast and there is a lot to do. I’ve easily put in over 60 hours of work this past week and a half, with many more to come. I’ve been leaving the apartment early and coming home late.
On Saturday, my good friend Naman Shah returned from India. We went over to his house after dinner and our friend Mike Lee joined us. We went until 4am talking and catching up.
More updates later, thanks for being patient.
