Concert Review

The Decemberists at the Tabernacle

The Decemberists is a band best known for its egg-headed approach to making eclectic, indie rock music. The band’s lyrics showcase its members’ penchant for classic literature, with songs ranging in topic from Irish mass-murderers to Japanese folk tales to even Shakespeare’s classic play, “The Tempest.” And those are just ones found on The Decemberists’ most recent album, “The Crane Wife.”

While such a literate, brainy style works well in the recording studio, I wasn’t sure how it would translate to a live concert. So, to find out, I caught The Decemberists last October at The Tabernacle in downtown Atlanta. Luckily, I can report that the band’s live sound is as smart and sharp as I’d hoped.

The Decemberists put on a two-and-a-half-hour show that romped through dozens of musical styles. The band channeled its inner Goth by matching moaning vocals with dark lyrics over a single guitar playing stark chords in “Shankill Butchers,” and then went up-tempo with “O Valencia,” a wry song about inter-family gang warfare that evoked memories of classic Morrissey. Surprises were plentiful, as when the group launched into the simple, happy “Summersong,” a ditty that you’d more expect to find on a They Might Be Giants album geared for children.

The large audience was as diverse as the music. Punks, metal-heads, older folks and young kids alike came together in the tight spaces of The Tabernacle to share their mutual affection for The Decemberists’ heady music. For the duration of the concert, I was entranced by the band’s rich sound, which interwove the usual guitars and drums with unusual layers of organ and strings. And I loved that the songs morphed from a jaunty sea shanty one minute into a more brooding political ballad the next.

The highlight of the show had to be “Sixteen Military Wives,” one of six played as encores. The song featured a part right in the middle where lead singer Colin Meloy erupted into a joyful “La-dee-da-dee-da” that took the crowd to a fever pitch. Dressed in his nerdy glasses and deliberately overdressed black suit, Meloy ran all across the stage, conducting an impromptu sing-along with the audience. Perhaps the smartest thing about The Decemberists is that the band isn’t afraid to be silly sometimes.

By Barry Langer / VOX Staff