Hazards of Love - May 20th - Fox Theater

Some times there are scheduled events that have so much built up before them that they can't possibly live up to expectations. When I think about everything that I've digested leading up to this Hazards of Love concert, I not only feel a little sheepish about my fanaticism, but find it hard to believe that I can continue to be satiated with what Colin Meloy and his band crank out. From the first time of hearing about this concept album at a little Colin Meloy concert last year (with a preview), to getting "The Rake" early off of i-tunes, to the NPR-recorded debut at the SXSW musical festival to the Onion interview to the Colbert Report appearance, there's been so much hype around this indie band that it would seem so easy for them to either implode or kill people off by over exposure. Yet I was excited as hell about this concert.

Before I write about the concert itself, let me say that the Fox Theater is gorgeous and is a worthy east bay answer to The Warfield. I found my eyes wandering around the ornate design , particularly the ceiling, which was lit ambiently with lavender (maybe in honor of Becky Stark). The outside lounging areas were beautifully carpeted and well equipped with California-brewed beers on tap (e.g. Sierra Nevada and Boont Amber Ale). The bathrooms made me forget that I was at a rock concert. To the people responsible for renovating this beautiful venue: bravo!

Onto the concert...The band started with their gentle "Prelude" with lights still dim and band members filtering onto the stage. This was followed by Colin's first "Hazards of Love" part 1, and as designed, it continued to ebb and flow from there. Each member seemed to add a uniquely pleasant compliment to a very talented cast (Even their back stage crew had to be given credit, due to all of the instrument changes). The crowd buzzed with each change in song, which was seamless.

The set seemed to really take off when Shara Worden came in with her first singing part in "The Wanting Comes in Waves". It was more than her rich and booming voice. I was slightly disappointed at first to see no costumes, which I believe they used in their debut of this "rock opera", but she had a presence and an energy that made any such gimmickry unnecessary. Simply by the way she moved and carried herself, she had the audience in the palm of her hand, swinging her hips and thrusting herself outward, reminding us of why "opera" could be associated with this performance.

Another memorable part of the set was when they moved to "The Rake", which had everyone, except for Colin and Chris Funk, become a drummer. They each had two drums to beat in synch with each other while Colin belted out this song that had come out as a preview earlier in the year. It was powerfully brilliant.

Probably the only person that lacked some punch, in my opinion, was Becky Stark. I enjoyed her voice on the album and it wasn't that far off during the concert, but I found myself straining a bit to hear the words from her. I'm not sure if this was due to her microphone being set a little lower or the fact that we were in the balcony, but I was always happy to hear Colin Meloy come back in with his voice, which was wonderful as usual. -- I had to chuckle a little bit when it was her turn to sing because one of the people that accompanied me was not a big fan of hers after an extra long Lavender Diamond cover set before a New Pornographers concert. I surprised him recently that she'd be part of this concert after he had remarked how much he enjoyed her voice in the album.

After they finished the beautiful set and we had a short intermission, the band came back out and played a lot of favorites, which included: We Both Go Down Together (which he always introduces as a "joint suicide song") and Grace Cathedral Hill (typical song he brings to the SF area) Then they went all Crane Wife for a while with Crane Wife (part 3), Valencia and an awesome Yankee Bayonnet rendition with Shara Worden. They then did a pre-encore finish with Sons and Daughters, which always gives me chills. The encore included The Rain Coat song, which is now one of my favorites, with only Colin and his drummer John Moen. After the first verse, Colin stopped to say, "That sounded pretty good, if we don't say so for ourselves" I agreed, it was lovely. They then played "Sleepless", which was their "Dark was the Night" contribution and ended with "A Cautionary Song", with most of the band coming out into the audience to act out some of the story. I'm probably missing a song or two, but boy, what an awesome set. The Hazards of Love+Crane Wife-lite+Dark was the Night+familiar favorites = Success! Success! Success! This was my 4th Decemberists concert and while they've all been great, this was the best.




Piss and moan section:

This is a section where I'd like to whine a little bit about something that's been troubling me, so read on if you'd like to hear this...During the concert there were two guys sitting behind me that were having a fairly loud, on going conversation with no more than a few seconds of break in between talking. There came a point where my friend actually turned around and said, "Are you going to talk the whole night?", which caught them off guard and led to a small apology, but led to a minute (no exaggeration) of silence before they picked up where they left off. I've been noticing this more and more at concerts, where there are people that seem to be using the music as background noise while they catch up with their friends. I'm realizing that the only way I can solve this for myself, is to move up closer to the stage, which I plan on doing, but I can't help question, "Why are you here?". My feeling is that it's a case of wanting to be at a scene to be seen and wanting to take in a lot more than the musical experience (in fact, make the music secondary). I really want to tell people to go hang out in the lounge or find a coffee house nearby to carry on with their fascinating conversation. The texting and the phone photography is getting on my nerves too, though I've been guilty of both. I think we've built a culture which is focused on capturing the moment, which I think inhibits enjoying the moment (yet here I am blogging away). During a John Vanderslice show recently, Vanderslice mentioned something about he's fearing the day that he'll fall over on stage, tripping over a cord or something, then seeing it the next day on Youtube, liked you would with Britney Spears. It made me think that there's more and more acceptance of this culture, and even though I'm diving into it as well, it just doesn't feel right. I'm hoping that it can evolve or branch out into something that's more palateable, if that makes any sense.