Photos and Review by Stephen Bloch
The Oxford English dictionary defines balustrade as an ornamental parapet on a balcony, bridge or terrace. This may be news to you, but it certainly is not to Colin Meloy and company, who played Saturday night’s Decemberists show at Milwaukee’s Riverside Theater. We sat in said location for the nearly two hour performance.
The indie band, hailing out of Portland, OR, are known for their array of radiant vocabulary and eccentric tales of history and folklore; Saturday was no exception. Sidenote: the band is likely employed by Princeton Review and the College Board for ACT and SAT review and construction, so having the panoply of vocabulary in their songs makes complete sense. I brought my thesaurus and was ready for a night of pulchritudinous and powerful songwriting and musicianship. This might be the time for you to do the same.
All of their deep catalog was represented with the exception of What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World, with a heavy emphasis on their soon to be released LP, As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again. This was a show for both old and new fans. . The band regularly dives deep in their catalog with very well crafted setlists and Saturday was no exception.. The entire show really was filled with highlights, but there were some new sounds introduced. One song contained a shofar, there were horns, and even a bossa nova. And then there was simply a trippy direction, with pure psychedelic prog sounds in “Severed” and in the 19 minute encore, “Joan in the Garden”. The band is clearly in an experimental stage and taking sonic risks.
The Decemberists are an engaging band, both metaphorically and literally. You have to listen (and often look up) the lyrics and Colin Meloy is a frontman who doesn’t shy away from banter or singbacks. He sat on the edge of the stage during the set closer “I Was Meant for the Stage” and then proceeded to go out into the crowd, grab a patrons phone and leave a little video for them. That’s a nice piece of memorabilia.
While the show didn’t contain any flying whale dirigibles, gingham, taffeta, tarlatan or gabardine attire, there were references to marionettes, courtesans and vagabonds. Who doesn’t like a good courtesan? Now go get your Webster’s or Roget’s and have at it and also grab a ticket to one of upcoming Decemberists’ shows.
