![_There's A Hair In My Psychedelic Psoup: Ty Segall and White Fence at the Mohawk [Show Preview]](http://austinist.com/assets_c/2012/05/tysegallwhitefence-thumb-250x250-716638.jpeg)
The Decemberists at Stubb's [Show Review]
It was fitting that Portland Mayor Sam Adams introduced the Decemberists at Stubb's Saturday night. In a pre-recorded message, Adams urged audience members to introduce themselves to those immediately next to them, and painted a dream sequence in which the band was a group of wandering travelers on a wooded trail. Adam's gesture reflected the fact that the Decemberists have become one of Portland's biggest musical exports. Their sixth album, The King Is Dead, debuted at #1 in late January, and they have been enjoying radio play ever since. However, thanks to the group's earnestness in their playing and Colin Meloy's general likability as a front man, it was apparent that the band hasn't let mainstream success get in the way of putting on a great show.
Stillwater, Oklahoma band Other Lives started things off with a pleasant if not particularly memorable set of expansive folk. Every member of the band except drummer Colby Owens took on multiple instrumental duties, with violins, cellos, trumpets, floor toms, and an even a pair of antlers with bells adding to the guitars and two sets of electric pianos. Band leader Jesse Tabish used plenty of reverb for his voice to give it that old timey feel, and there were plenty of harmonies to go around. Too often, however, it felt like there was too much going on onstage for any of the group's songs to really resonate. While all of the band's members were very talented musicians, there was something missing that kept their set from being more than simply good.
After greeting the rapturous crowd, The Decemberists went straight into "Shiny," a cut off of their 5 Songs EP. The band sounded right at home on the Stubb's stage, as each arrangement sounded full and well-rehearsed. The addition of former Nickel Creek vocalist/fiddler Sara Watkins, who took the lead on "Won't Want for Love (Margaret In the Taiga)" added another unique talent to the fold of Meloy, guitarist Chris Funk, multi-instrumentalist Jenny Conlee, bassist Nate Query, and drummer John Moen.
Continuing to prove why he is the coolest teacher you never had, Meloy was on top of his game in terms of stage banter. From explaining the history behind songs like "Rox in the Box" to saying "Who needs spotlights? We all know we're stars!" when asking for the lighting crew to cut off his spotlight, just about everything he said came off as endearing. Even when he flubbed a couple of lines here and there, he played it off as only he could. Before strapping his harmonica on for "Don't Carry It All" he said something to the effect that the next few songs would please the yuppies, acknowledging that a sizable part of the audience was simply there to see the band play "Down By The Water." Along with saying that several audience members reminded him and the band of people they knew, it was the kind of banter that one expects at a Decemberists show, and it made for some humorous moments between songs.
The band's set consisted of a good balance of new material and cuts from their back catalog. The entire "Crane Wife" trilogy and "The Rake's Song" joined new tracks "Calamity Song," "Rise To Me," and second encore song "June Hymn." However, the most pleasant surprise of the night came from the fact that the band played five songs off of their landmark 2005 album Picaresque. Each of these songs provided for some of the evening's biggest highlights.
First, there was the gorgeous "We Both Go Down Together," a song about a joint suicide that Meloy took to new heights by adding an a capella ending where the narrator recants his statement and urges his love that life is worth living. Immediately following was the multiple movements of "The Bagman's Gambit," where the crowd reacted wildly when every instrumental outburst was once again met by Meloy's gentle strumming. Then, before main set closer "This Is Why We Fight" came "16 Military Wives," one of the band's most popular songs. When Meloy was about to get the audience to join him in the "la-dee-dah-dee-dah" refrain, the arrangement went into a sort of improvisational jazz style, which caught him off guard. However, he cracked a couple of jokes, and started scatting over the musical left turn. Conlee did a bit of scatting herself before Meloy got things back on track, and the whole crowd joined him in the call and response refrain.
The band's first encore continued the Picaresque motif, and after a gorgeous rendition of "Eli, The Barrow Boy" came the highlight of the night, "The Mariner's Revenge Song." Easily one of the group's most theatrical songs, it featured the band swaying in sync during the song's midsection, and Funk giving off hand gestures for when the audience was to pretend they too were being swallowed by a giant whale. While the audience screamed at the top of their lungs, every member of the band save for Funk collapsed, taking their instruments with them and the stage went black. This was a sure sign that the band has not compromised any of their theater nerd tendencies on the heels of success, and it was these eccentricities combined with their skills as musicians that made their Stubb's set enjoyable from start to finish.
