I am a fan only of the Hazards of Love album - not the Decemberists' discography. I don't like happy music and I can't stand the modern hipster. However, I was in Borders one day and this really cool, jammy, dreamlike music was playing in the ceiling speakers. I asked the clerk who the artist was and without making eye contact, a finger pointed to a CD jewel case. Ah the utmost in customer service... Anyway, I picked up the CD that day and my ears are thanking me for it ever since.
There's no touching Pink Floyd. Let me state that simply and with fervor. David Gilmour and Roger Waters might as well be aliens from a planet with a greater understanding of music than we humans are capable of attaining. If those two had a mixed batch of bastard children with Ann and Nancy Wilson from Heart who came together and made a concept album in the 21st century you could trace the sounds back to what is the Decemberists in another dimension. Concept albums seriously float my boat. If you don't get it, you simply don't get it. Plenty of jerks play the guitar/drums/bass/keys/etc well in the world over the last 40+ years. I do enjoy a solid arrangement or a melody that drives the listener to tears. But only a select few have managed to pull of the concept album successfully. It's an entirely different breed of animal and Pink Floyed are the reigning champion with the Wall. Who is second place, you ask? Well the Decemberists, of course, with The Hazards of Love.
So you can get an idea of my absolute giddy reaction to find that the entire album was to be played from start to finish... The sound guy even primed the audience by playing the B-side to Pink Floyd Echoes (Phantom, much?). I've said this before, but if you have a chance to see Hazards of Love live, go see it. I was honored to be a part of the audience for this one - the unveiling of the Visualizer. It's essentially a panoramic screen with digital video clips that somewhat go with the music. It reminded me a lot of seeing Tool live except that Tool has managed to perfect the video cues much better through repetition. I could have lived without the Visualizer - the music was overwhelming enough. Evening thinking of it now, almost a month after the show, I'm getting butterflies. It was so awesome to be a part of that show!
My wife was telling me about the two female guest singers and how she's attempted to find more tracks by Shara Worden where she sings like The Queen to no avail. That little pixy of a woman can seriously belt out some spot-on vocals! I'm so glad that she and Becky Stark were able to join the band for this show/tour. I think that they should just ditch their other projects and join the Decemberists fold full time.
After The Hazards of Love the group took a break and the Visualizer was pulled up off stage. At that time I told my wife that we could leave because everything after that moment would be a disappointment in comparison. There's no touching that first half of the night! With the exception of the cover of "Crazy on You" by Heart, I was right.
The second set was pretty much just happy songs that the hipster following could bounce up and down to and know that their sheltered little trust fund lives are going to be just fine. When many hipsters are happy and then happy becomes cool, do they just abandon happiness because they are constantly in search of anything that has yet to become a fad? Regardless of that whole deal, the first half of the show was worth at least twice what I paid for the tickets (don't quote me on that because tickets are already overpriced these days).
Royce Hall had fairly good sound and was intimate enough that we all had a decent view of the show. My wife and I were in the floor seats a few seats in front of the FOH engineer. Getting out of the parking lot after the show was a bummer because it took about 30 minutes. There's a terrible bottle-neck effect leaving the venue parking. Oh, and don't forget to pee IN Royce Hall before leaving the venue. The facility service people go around and lock up all surrounding restrooms and they frown on people who decide to pee on the floor in dissent of their practices. When you've got to go, you've got to go and damn it, I'm a patron of the arts!
In recap - venue is a solid 8/10. The band is a solid 8/10. The Visualizer is a fair 6/10 and needs more development and cue timing. The Hazards of Love album performed in full, in a live setting is an amazing 10/10 without question. Someone go tell Colin to wheel that sweet wagon back to LA very soon!
