The Cramer Lemon: First Post-Olive Date/Concert Review

Thursday night was not only a big deal because we went on our first outing together without the Olive since her arrival, but the occasion was to see the Decemberists and Justin Townes Earle at the Benedum Center. Wow, wow, and wow. Katrina was a dear and came to babysit the goon, who had already been put to bed (but because being on the road all day for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday her sleep was thrown off course a little bit and she woke up not long after we left). With it being my fourth time seeing the Decemberists live I knew what to expect, and though I enjoy the music of J.T.E. I was not prepared to be as awestruck as I was. The guy was phenomenal. Channeling Hank Williams circa 1949 like nobody's business, all gangly legs, pointed-toe boots and Tennessee shuffle. It was just him and a fiddler/backup vocalist and they put on a flawless show. After witnessing Earle's booming-yet-melodic twang and mind-blowing guitar work I could've gone home happy but I knew more good stuff was to come. The Decemberists did what they do best by pulling out some of their longer, more epic works (frontman Colin Meloy quipped that, "Whoever wrote the set list must've thought we were a "prog" band. We're a folk band," referring to the group's recent departure from their prog(ressive) rock reputation in favor a simpler, more folksy sound. I hadn't heard much off of their latest album, The King is Dead, released early this year, but it's obvious that my favorite, R.E.M., was a big influence; they even pulled in Peter Buck, the band's guitarist, to sit in on a few tracks on the album. During their performance on one of these numbers, "Down By the Water", just when I was thinking of the particular R.E.M. album that would feature that song, Rob leaned over and said, "I can just imagine them singing FIRE! right now." And he was exactly right. Take a listen to the video clip I've included and tell me that this isn't a total "The One I Love" knockoff. Tell me. I would've taped more of the show but I was being a renegade and disobeying the Benedum's "No Recording Devices or Cameras" policy. I didn't want to push my luck. They played quite a few of the new songs, which I knew they'd do, and in my preoccupation with being a mother I neglected my normal pre-concert homework of getting to know the album front and back. They did do one of my favorites: "The Bagman's Gambit", a really, really cool song about star-crossed lovers - one working for the U.S. government and the other a Soviet spy. Meloy has a real gift for intelligent songwriting that veers refreshingly from the trite, and his language is so creative, if not over-the-top at times. It was little wonder that their set was only fourteen songs long; their first encore was the just-under-twenty-minutesThick as a Brick-esque five-part suite, The Tain. I'm still not sure what it's about (the theft of a cow, or so I'm led to believe) but I am sure that it's amazing. They capped off the night with a tender "June Hymn", an ode to early summer, and it brought a tear to my eye. It was oh, so very nice to attend a concert again. I've come a long way from the days when I'd catch at the very least a show a week, but it's good to dip my feet into the waters from time to time.