Colin Meloy

I more or less had Colin’s set list plotted out in my mind going into this one. Not necessarily in chronological order, but I had an overarching idea of everything I thought he’d play at one point or another. There are just certain Decemberists’ songs that cater well to a solo performance and I assumed my criteria for song selection would mirror his. As it usually turns out, I was wrong.

Colin ended up playing quite a few songs that I contrarily thought would only work in his band’s setting. While I was certain he’d play the gorgeous ode to a loved one’s beauty, “Of Angles And Angles,” and other such songs that consist of not much more than Colin’s voice and guitar like “Red Right Ankle,” he didn’t. Instead he took on the Steely Dan styled “The Perfect Crime #2″ and the accordion driven “The Mariner’s Revenge Song” and while I didn’t think such songs would work in that particular context, they did and they did incredibly well.

Colin had the audience fill in for the rest of the Decemberists’ absence by having them take on a multitude of musical duties. On “The Perfect Crime #2″, he had us all humming along to the short guitar solo that rolls its way in after the chorus. On “The Mariner’s Revenge Song”, he had everyone singing the high pitched, ghostly vocal break typically delivered by Decemberist Jenny Conlee. I attempted to participate, but my voice just doesn’t go up like that. Fortunately, this was an all age’s show and there were plenty in attendance with the ability to hit those northerly octaves. The audience members’ voices in unison all trying their best to keep in that consistent key sounded much like an overly talented children’s choir. The Park West’s tall, rounded ceiling surely helped on that front, but as audience participation goes it was every bit of impressive. On top of the audience’s combined vocal skill, I was equally impressed with their word for word knowledge of the lyrics they were in charge of belting. This confirmed something that I already had suspected. Decemberists fans are not middle or the road or fair-weathered, they are entirely devout. I don’t think there’s much grey area when it comes to liking the Decemberists. They aren’t the type of band where you might like a couple of select songs, but don’t really care much for others. You’re either in or out and a lot of those who are in are up to their necks in it.

Colin actually got the night started on a 12-string guitar with Castaways And Cutouts’ “Leslie Ann Levine” and then kept it a rockin’ with Picaresque’s “We Both Go Down Together”. After those two he took a breather to jokingly deem Chicago as the “city of dudes on crotch rockets” which he then extended to “city of dudes on crotch rockets with sunglasses who wave to other dudes on crotch rockets with sunglasses”. I kind of had to agree because I was passed on the shoulder of Lake Shore Drive by an abundance of dudes on crotch rockets on my way there. This nice weather we’re finally having has the tendency to really bring out the stupid in some people. He also played a few new songs from the forthcoming Decemberists album that Colin said was to be recorded later this summer. There were probably three or four in total and they all sounded fantastic, so that chalked up another album to look forward to this year. He didn’t explicitly say the names of any of them and mostly in part because they’re not set in stone at this point, but he told the stories behind the lyrics and dual natured one about the beast that comes from the forest and sleeps with a woman and then leaves and then comes back again as a villain is particularly fantastic. Some other highlights included “The Engine Driver,” “Shankill Butchers” and “O Valencia!”

I’ve seen the Decemberists live before and it was evident when I did that Colin has an easily likable personality. Through this show, I was able to see much more of it which explains why he’s done these solo tours in the first place. I think he gets to somewhat let down his guard through the Decemberists, but he gets to really be himself when he’s performing alone – something you can definitely tell he enjoys. On top of being a talented singer and songwriter, he’s a warm soul with a great sense of humor who does a remarkable job of engaging his audience. Throughout the night, I kept thinking of one of my favorite Decemberists songs; “I Was Meant For The Stage” off of Her Majesty The Decemberists and if anyone out there doing this today was ever meant for the stage, it’s this dude. Talk about a lyric ringing true.

No related posts.

blog comments powered by Disqus