The Decemberists

The first time I ever heard The Decemberists is etched in my memory for good. My sister was due back from a 6 month University placement in America, and while I was waiting for her at the airport, I stuck on 'The Crane Wife' – it had been on my iPod for a while and I'd been meaning to listen to it. I will never forget the effect 'The Crane Wife 3' had on me that morning. The Celtic sounds, the wonderful harmonies, the upbeat sounds and the downbeat lyrics – I knew immediately that I was going to love their stuff.

'The Crane Wife' became one of my top listened albums of all time.

Loving The Decemberists as I do, and having never seen them live, I was understandably excited about the gig. To top it off, the last time I went to the Forum was to see Snow Patrol for the first time – back in the day, before 'Eyes Open' came out – and it was an amazing gig (I'm going to stick to my guns on that one, however unpopular it makes me!). I really was anticipating greatness.

Arriving at the venue half an hour after doors opened, I was surprised to hear a support act on already, but reasoned it would be a 3 band night. When The Decemberists entered the stage at 8.30, to rapturous applause, I began to realise just how epic the night would be.



I didn't actually know anything about the gig, so it wasn't until midway through the first half that I began to realise what the band were doing – they were working through the entirety of their new album – 'The Hazards Of Love'. 'The Hazards Of Love' is a concept album, using many of the same themes as 'The Crane Wife'. The plot, according to Rolling Stone, is as follows; "It's a twisty, fantastical story about a woman named Margaret who is ravaged by a shape-shifting animal; her lover, William, who is desperate for the two of them to be reunited; a forest queen; and a villainous rake."

Lead singer Colin Meloy played both William and The Rake, and the 2 female singers – Becky Stark (Margaret) and Shara Worden (the forest queen) – played their parts to perfection. Becky was dressed all in white, breathy and ethereal, and Shara in black, challenging and sensual. When Shara first opened her mouth I was blown away by the power and quality of her voice. She seduced the crowd, daring them to surrender to her – a perfect contrast to the pure, forgiving nature of Becky's character.

The album was full of tantalisingly familiar guitar riffs, wonderful imagery arising from the lyrics, especially those harking back to 'The Crane Wife', and – at one stage – I'm convinced Meloy finished a song with a line taken straight from 'O Valencia!'.



A wonderful range of instruments were employed to help set the scene, including an accordion (a much-underused instrument that lent a wonderful French feel to one of the tracks), a double bass, a zither, various items of percussion and pedal steel guitar that sounded so like a violin that I spent about 5 minutes looking for the fiddle player. Of the seven members on stage, none of them were ever surplus. When not singing, Becky and Shara played various instruments with a high degree of skill (something exhibited by every single member of the band, on every single instrument they played). This also meant that various members spent a lot of time running around the stage, which definitely helped lend a sense of energy to the performance!

It's hard to separate out individual songs from such a complete album, but a couple of moments particularly stood out for me. One was where the whole of the band except Meloy and the bassist were drumming along to the melody – which the crowd loved – and another was an interlude in one of the songs where the band were playing an instrumental over a recording of a children's choir – it was very eerie and reminded me quite strongly of The Wickerman (RIP Edward Woodward, by the way).

By the end of the album I was absolutely blown away. When the band announced that they were "taking a short break" there was a visible pause while people collected their thoughts before heading to the bar/toilet/smoking area.



After the interval (and I have to say this is the first gig I've ever seen that had an interval), The Decemberists returned to the stage to play a more conventional gig, showcasing some of their classic tunes.

In 'Sporting Life', not content with the crowd clapping along, Meloy coaxed them into clapping on demand. The pauses between claps became longer and more arrhythmic in his attempt to catch the crowd out – something he never quite managed to do.

'Engine Driver' was wonderfully upbeat, and just had me wanting to dance – which I did, with abandon. Sadly, although the crowd shared my enthusiasm, they didn't share my free spirit (or were just slightly more conscious of not embarrassing themselves hugely), and although I tried my hardest, I didn't gain many followers.

'Chimney Sweep' turned into an epic guitar battle (including a line from Greensleeves), involving Meloy getting down off the stage into the pit, and offering up his guitar to anyone in the audience willing to take a shot. The whole theatre was clapping along, until – under Meloy's guidance – the clapping got quieter and quieter, following the dynamic line of the music, and eventually ceasing to exist. At that point, Meloy – still with his finger to his lips – got down on his knees and encouraged us all to do the same. Once the whole of the pit were kneeling down, the music continued quietly for a little while longer and then leapt to a huge crescendo – a move complemented by the audience jumping to its feet, laughing and cheering and generally having the time of their lives.

Meloy introduced 'Dracula's Daughter' – the first song he ever wrote - with an entire story about its origins. Apparently, when he wrote it, it filtered into the ether, and when God found out about it, he cried a single tear, which fell on to London and created the River Thames. Needless to say, this went down a storm. This was followed by 'O Valencia!', which received a great response from the crowd, and was delivered with typically punchy panache.

Both singers underwent costume changes, Becky now sporting a tight red dress, and returned to the stage to share vocals for the final song – 'Crazy On You'. The song was wonderfully performed, full of raw energy and incredibly powerful, and the band left the stage to thunderous applause.

Meloy returned to the stage alone for the encore, asking our permission to play a new song. The track he played was utterly beautiful – wonderfully soft, melody led with an incredible guitar part. It affected every single person in the audience on a fundamental level – 2,000 people entirely silent – utterly speechless.



And the response when the last note had died away was like nothing I've ever experienced – especially not for a brand new song that no-one present has ever heard before. From that, Meloy was joined on stage by the rest of the band and led them into a storming rendition of 'Sons And Daughters'. Before the last refrain, Meloy calmly explained to the audience exactly what a refrain was, and encouraged us all to take this one home with us, spoon with it all night, and hope it was still there the following morning. The eventual chorus of "...hear all the bombs fade away..." was loud enough to raise the roof. I left the venue utterly bowled over - I haven't been that emotionally affected by a gig for a long, long time.

So much so, in fact, that upon arriving home I logged on to Gumtree and got myself a ticket for the following night to do it all over again.

FUTURE GIGS

sorry, we currently have no gigs listed for this act.