Someone Dressed Up Like The Decemberists Last Night
We begged, borrowed and stole to get into the Decemberists show the last time they came through town. Man, we were determined to get in there and were rewarded with a great show. When does that ever happen? This time around we employed all the tools at our disposal (a calendar, Ticketswest and an iota of forethought) to make sure we had tickets and were rewarded with a lukewarm do-over of the last time through. Recently we wished for TIVO for live concerts and last night it felt like that's what we got. Same band as last time, same songs as last time, different effect than last time. It just didn't feel as fresh. Maybe it's a good thing we missed the Bumbershoot performance or we may have actually been bored last night.
It's strange for an all-ages show to feel flat like that. The kids usually bring what we're nowhere near old enough to refer to as "youthfull enthusiasm" to a venue like the Showbox, but ultimately it needs to be reflected back by the people on stage and yesterday it just wasn't. Everyone loved Infanta, of course, and Sporting Life was physically energetic if a little routine. It feels a little silly even explaining the set - If you have tickets for tonight you probably either went last time or have talked to someone who did. It's the same as that. Remember when they closed with the raucous Mariner's Revenge? You'll remember it from tonight as well. It's sold out. It's Halloween, or a weekend approximation. It should be fun, and it was fun Thursday night, but it just seemed like there was some energy missing and some fun was left on the table.
