Concert Review of the Week: The Decemberists

I have been to a lot of concerts since my return to Toronto. After living in Saskatchewan for two years, I missed seeing live shows. Great bands (i.e. The Pixies, Caribou, Sloan, Modest Mouse, and Bonobo) did play in Saskatoon while I lived there but it's hard to be a live music fan and live outside the Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver touring triangle.

Once I hit Toronto I checked out the concert listings and went a little overboard snapping up tix for concerts of all the bands I had listened to for the past two years, but hadn't ever dreamed of seeing live. The Decemberists was one of those bands.

October 13th was a cold and rainy day in Toronto and on a Thursday evening like that, you can usually find me in the foetal position on the couch watching television. Nothing would have pleased me more than to have spent the evening doing nothing, but I hauled my lazy ass up and headed down to the Phoenix Concert Theatre.

I arrived at the show at 10:15 thereby missing the opener: Cass McCombs. The venue was quite full and I decided to forego drinks and settled in. I waited for 30 minutes or so and was bumped into, hit, knocked, and spilled upon by a few dozen people. Despite being surrounded by short girls I began to feel quite claustrophobic.

It may have been a combination of everything that was going on, or the fact that I would have rather been cuddled up in bed (a sure sign that I must be getting old), but I was very uncomfortable, and the stiffling heat was making my head spin. It was a very Meursault shooting the Arab, and as the band took the stage, I began to wonder what my next move would be.

After three songs it hit me. I realized that I have had The Decemberists in my iTunes playlist for over 18 months, but everytime one of their songs comes on I skip it. I hear the cheery catchy melodies, but am jarred by the vocals. I always wonder, "who is this?" and with my interest piqued, I invariably slide my mouse to my iTunes tab to find out.

"Oh, the Decemberists." Skip.

I must have heard every song they've written only halfway or three quarters of the way through. I suppose that this raises the question (note that it does NOT "beg the question") why I keep doing it. I guess that I feel some strange pressure that I should like this band, and that I should know their music and enjoy listening to it. As I type this now I've realized that it's just simple music snobbery. I've hung onto the Decemberists merely for the puzzled faces when asked "Who are going to see?"

So I admit it. I left the concert early and I don't regret it. I know that there will be a ton of people who will question my choice and tell me what a fool I was to miss this show, but when you're in a 39 degree concert venue sweating and it hits you that you've become the music hipster-doofus that you hate, something's gotta change. With that I got the hell out and my only job now will be to remove those songs from my playlist.