The Decemberists w/ Heartless Bastards @ Kool Haus

It's been noted that a professional journalist always refrains from gushing. His job is to present an accurate and unbiased opinion of an album or performance whilst exercising due caution to avoid presenting himself (or herself) as an uneducated fanboy (or fangirl) who merely sings the praises of a band without providing any real constructive criticism. However, as you all know, I ain't no professional journalist and I just went to see The Decemberists play the awesomest freakin' show I've seen in something like 15 years or something! So gushing? Yes, I will be gushing!

To begin with, it was one of those nights where pretty much everything seemed to be going my way. My favourite band (of the moment) was in town to play my favourite album (of the moment) in its entirety! My enthusiasm was certainly on a high that I haven't felt for quite some time, but this high was significantly tempered by the fact that they were playing the Kool Haus. We all know how I feel about the Kool Haus. Still, somehow I managed to get a spot right up front, center stage. This meant that my 5'9" stature, which is generally considered perfectly average in the real world, yet ridiculously tiny in the world of standing room concerts at crappy venues, was thankfully not an irritating issue this time around. Also not an issue was the crowd who were definitely of the 'all-ages' variety, but respectfully so. The teenage girls on the verge of syncope at the sight of Colin Meloy's cool muttonchops certainly made themselves known, but not in the usual way that makes me want to trip them. Also, the sound that had reached an all time level of unlistenable at The National show back in May was actually slightly on the positive side of tolerable, much to my surprise. This wasn't Massey Hall, but it wasn't ... erm ... Kool Haus either. I mean it was, but, you know...

The opening band was the Heartless Bastards from Ohio. Although they've received a fair measure of critical acclaim, I was mostly unfamiliar with them. Their name made me guess that they were either a punk band or a country band, and I'd have to say that they floated somewhere inbetween the two. Their sound is certainly bred from that bluesy garage tradition, but I really appreciated the way their songs would often shift seamlessly from gruff, dirty sounding bar numbers to fuller sounding rock triumphs, often during the course of a single song. Vocalist Erika Wennerstrom's Joplin-esque swirl is the ingredient that caused me to pay closer attention, as it presented the right balance of attitude and misery that I personally found captivating.

Photos: My pics of Heartless Bastards @ Kool Haus are on flickr.
Myspace: Heartless Bastards
Download: The Mountain mp3

As much as I've been enjoying The Decemberists's Hazards Of Love CD at home, I knew that this progessive song suite would absolutely kill on the live stage. Jenny Conlee was the first member to hit the stage, and after accepting a large bouquet of flowers from an audience member, she sat down at the keyboard to lunge into the supreme opus that was to enrapture this audience for the next hour or so. I had recently read somewhere that she's a huge Jethro Tull fan, so there's no doubt that Jenny was likely in all her glory during the course of this tour. Although this was not an acted stage play in the true sense of the term, Colin Meloy shifted between his dual role of William (the good guy) and The Rake (the bad guy) with charismatic ease. The man is usually no stranger to charming banter, but since the structure of this piece does not really allow for any "Hello Toronto!" moments, Meloy basically let his facial expressions do the talking. The best performances however were done by the guest female vocals of Becky Stark (of Lavender Diamond) and Shara Worden (of My Brightest Diamond.) Once again, they weren't acting per se, but they were certainly hamming it up on that stage by allowing themselves to be completely consumed in their roles of the pure white Margaret (Stark) and the vampy seductress The Queen (Worden). Although the whole piece was performed brilliantly throughout, it was hard to argue with the audience's enthusiasm during The Rake Song. I suppose it was a hint disconcerting to hear the crowd sing along to that song's morbid lyric with such inappropriate joyfulness, but it was bizarrely uplifting nonetheless.

After performing the album in its entirety, the band gave us two shows, two shows for the price of one, as they returned to the stage after a 15 minute break with a full set of nine brilliant songs both old and new, prior to the encore. Meloy now had the opportunity to remind us how witty he actually is, as he kept his endearing audience banter going throughout the course of the show. Whether he was engaging the audience in a well prepared singalong during Billy Liar, going on about the worst song that he's ever written before playing Dracula's Daughter, or just simply messing up the lyrics to The Crane Wife 3 and then blaming it on his drummer who's "always messing up everything", Colin Meloy displayed a sense of humour that provided clarity as to why The Decemberists have been mentioned in the same breath as Stephen Colbert so often. The night provided so many great moments, but the definite culmination of all things wonderful came when Worden and Stark once again graced us with their presence in order to perform an incendiary version of Heart's Crazy On You; a performance that will likely be secured in my mind's concert highlight reel for years to come. For the encore, the band came back out to perform Eli The Barrow Boy, and Sons And Daughters; the latter of which enabled the audience to sing the coda in a way that literally gave me chills.

When I'm an old(er) man and reflecting back on all of my concert going experiences, I'm pretty positive that the Short Fazed Novel Tour of 2009 will be one of those shows that I'll be referring to often. A Decemberists show goes beyond simply being another concert; a Decemberists show is an event. It's likely that they got the epic 55 minute song desire out of their system with this tour, but there's no doubt that each tour will continue to be a memorable experience, which means that this is likely not the last time that you will see me gush unprofessionally about this band.

Reviews of this show are also on Chromewaves and Chart.

Photos: My pics of The Decemberists @ Kool Haus are on flickr.
Myspace: The Decemberists
Download: Here I Dreamt I Was An Architect mp3