I went to the sold out Decemberists show in Philadelphia last night. Touring in support of their latest CD “Picaresque“, the band was in top notch form and they played for over an hour and 45 minutes (including the encore).
Band leader Colin Meloy was suitably nerdy and in glasses with a great stage presence. The man can sing loud and clear! He switched guitars a bunch— electrics, 6 and 12 string acoustics. Always tricky live, the acoustic guitars (with pickups) sounded great. Along with Jenny Conlee on keys, Nate Query who played electric and upright bass, there was Chris Funk, the “utility outfielder”—playing guitar, pedal steel, glockenspiel (I think), hammer dulcimer, banjo, mandolin etc.— all depending on the song (and often switching mid song too). Drummer John Moen was good too and later for the encore he played a floor tom that was miked up and out in front of the drum riser—wandering the stage with it and hamming it up.
Joining them for this tour was Petra Haden on violin and singing backup. She has a terrific voice—the band even paused to have her sing lead on a version of Kate Bush’s “Wuthering Heights”. I wasn’t familiar with Petra and didn’t know she has quite a musical background—her father is Charlie Haden the bass player, and she’s recently released a CD with guitar player Bill Frisell (as well as her own goofy a capella version of the Who’s “The Who Sell Out” on Bar/None Records).
The wife and I got there early enough to sit in a small balcony with seats so we had a nice view and we didn’t have to be on our feet the whole time. There were a few other older folks up there and the sound was good. I joked that maybe they were the parents of some of the concert goers - my wife reminded me that we too were old enough to be the parents of most of the crowd…
Update: NPR’s All Songs Considered broadcast the Washington D.C. show live and has archived the Real Stream of the show here.
