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April 15, 2007
The Decemberists Bring that Loving Feeling
I just got back from The Decemberists' show at the Pagent, and yes, it was incredible! But I've got to say...spending three hours with that many people is enough to make an extreme extravert of my stature spontaneiously explode like the 7th drummer of Spinal Tap. Not only did I receive happy energy from all the cool Indie people of St. Louis, but the music itself brought a slice of life to my current reality of endless responsibilities and things to get done before graduation!
What can I say? Colin Meloy and company have a way of bringing you into their stories about characters who are broken by death or war or love...or just unusual stories such as the one about the sailors who get eaten by a whale. The musicality of the band is beautiful and somehow historical...it's as if they spent a summer working at Busch Gardens in the Old-World European Circus and then decided to make a cd...which sounds really lame, but I digress...I don't know what it is, maybe it's the fact that I listen to a lot of bad pop music like Britney and the like, but their sound is so musical and interwoven together that you can't help but be mesmorized by what they are doing.
I have had this same experience of musical elation, if you will, several times as I have frequented the Pagent in the past year. I saw Patty Griffin, Sufjan Stevens, My Morning Jacket, and of course, The Decemberists...all of which gave powerful performances that displayed aspects of the human condition with grace and beauty. Not only did I connect with what each of them had to say, but I got the chance to enjoy them with others...thousands of others. It has been my experience that being a part of shows of the lesser-known artists brings with it a sense of unity, if only for a couple of hours...it's a nice feeling!
I love the fact that we will all be united together living lives with no seperation or baggage, no unspoken issues left to be addressed or racism or hate. I look forward to a day when our hearts will be filled with honest gratitude for how life is treating us...man, what will Chris Carraba do then?
I leave you with the final song on The Decemberists latest cd, The Crane Wife:
Sons & Daughters
When we arrive, sons and daughters
We'll make our homes on the water
We'll build our walls of aluminum
We'll fill or mouths with cinnamon
These currents pull us 'cross the border
Steady your boats arms to shoulder
'Til tides all pull our hull aground
Making this calm harbor now home
Take up your arms, sons and daughters
We will we arise from the bunkers
By land, by sea, by dirigible
We'll leave our tracks untraceable
Hear all the bombs, they fade away
Hear all the bombs, they fade away
| By Nathan Gemayel | 1:02 AM
Comments
Yes, great concert, my husband Clay and I enjoyed it, too. Did you see them when they came to Mississippi Nights a few years ago (with OK Go, I think?)... we've been mourning Miss. Nights' passing after seeing some good shows there.
Posted by: Renae at April 16, 2007 12:44 AM
Sounds amazing!
Posted by: Heidi Vincent at April 16, 2007 10:29 AM
Renae! Yes the show was incredible! I didn't get to see them with OK Go...but that sounds like one not to miss...unfortanately, I did. I do miss Mississippi Nights for real though. I saw Sufjan Stevens there about a year and half ago...what a great venue. Have a good day!
Posted by: Nathan Gemayel at April 16, 2007 6:35 PM
Yes, we saw S.S. at Miss. Nights, too, although I had a bad view of the stage, so that was disappointing. But we caught him at the Pageant last fall, when My Brightest Diamond opened for him. We thought she did a much better job this time around... more polished, etc. (Actually, I thought she came off kind of scary in a "does she have anger management issues" sort of way when we saw her last year!)
My husband likes to do a blog tour after concerts to see what everyone else thought... he saw that The Decemberists did a very different show at Foellinger Aud. at U. of IL, different stage set-up different songs, but also good reviews. We went to school there, and I'd love to do a road trip up there some day for a concert... we tried to get there for S.S., but couldn't work out the babysitting & seminary classes logistics.
We haven't seen as many concerts lately, so it was good to get out again... gotta get back in the routine!
Cheers!
Posted by: Renae at April 17, 2007 11:40 AM