The Decemberists Don't Kill Spiders

For me, The Decemberists have always seemed like an odd little band. Nice and folksy, but perhaps just a bit too literate (and too obsessed with history and military battles) for their own good. Then Santa brought me The Crane Wife, and I was sold. After seeing them perform I am truly in love.Because life is way too busy, I arrived at the show late and missed opening act, My Brightest Diamond, I am ashamed to say. But I didn't have time to be disappointed as The Decemberists were already onstage putting on an amazing show. I had wondered how the songs would come off live and the answer is glorious.Lead singer Colin Meloy likes to talk, which is one of the things I enjoy most at a show. He treated us to several stories -- the band's trip to Stax earlier in the day, the fact that living on the coast means constantly worrying about being swallowed by a whale and that someone in the band likes competition singing. The audience was divided at one point, quite literally down the middle. People were forced to choose sides as Colin ordered a "trench" be made down the middle of the room. Soon we were singing our hearts out with Colin conducting us and later in the evening there was a dance competition as well. As I was near the back (and I'm short) I missed out on the dancers.The set consisted mostly of The Crane Wife. "Shankill Butchers" was just as haunting, if not more so, as the room seemed to become strangely quiet when Colin requested red lights and sang of wiping off their cleavers on their thighs. "O Valencia!" got the crowd jumping (at least the folks around me were bouncing quite a bit) and the only real disappointment was "Yankee Bayonet." The singer from My Brightest Diamond came out to play the female in the duet. It may have been a sound problem, but she was difficult to hear and what I could hear wasn't great. Her voice didn't seem to fit the song or match Colin's very well. Probably my favorite song of the evening was "Sons and Daughters" which closed the main set. We were once again asked to sing along with the final refrain: Hear all the bombs, they fade away. It was quite lovely hearing our multitude singing together.For the encore we were treated to an acoustic version of "The Ballad of El Goodo" by Big Star. I really appreciate it when a band plays a song related to Memphis, and Colin said it was special for us. If it turns out he's lying, I don't want to know.In the middle of the evening, one of the band noticed a spider had joined them onstage. The entire band convened stage right to inspect it and agreed it was huge. A brave crew member finally scooped it up and went to deposit it outside. I enjoy the fact the band are laid back enough to stop and examine a spider. They gave an excellent performance and obviously enjoyed themselves immensely. I had a marvelous time watching them.