One of my all time favorite rock bands is The Decemberists. I love their fun “old soul” approach to an imagined history in lyrics – one that is no doubt based on Colin Meloy reading history and literature. The band is simply fantastic – all musicians are superb.
They aren’t perfect – but they are always fun. They always seem to have one song on each album that pushes it one step over the line – and live – they do one thing that drives me nuts – they build a great head of steam, and just as you expect the show to get to the crescendo, they do this idiotic “sing along” for pure December-Nerds”. They need to do that crap maybe in the beginning or during an encore – but not right in the middle of the show – which is a buzz kill.
But I still love this band anyway. Great stuff from a great town – Portland, Oregon