well, i'm back

I know I haven't posted a heck of a lot lately, but it has been a trying couple of weeks in Mystik Spiral land. Two weeks ago my dad was in the hospital for 4 days (related to the lymphoma he was diagnosed with a couple of years ago). Additionally, work has been insanely busy, and I've been madly trying to get ready for the Cancun trip while fighting a cold that I caught from my nieces last week. The last straw, however, was when my computer crashed last Tuesday. Talk about devastating. Long story short, I was a victim of spyware, and luckily the computer geeks at Circuit City were able to repair my laptop without losing anything from my hard drive. It was a bit sketchy - apparently my tech guy had a bet going with another tech guy on whether or not he'd be able to fix it. Thankfully MY tech guy won. Oh yeah. Thank you David at Circuit City.

So, my first show in nearly two weeks was The Decemberists at the Fillmore. God, I hate the Fillmore; I think I hate it a little more every time I go. At this point, it takes a band that I really really really want to see to get me to go there. As it is, I love The Decemberists just as much as I hate the Fillmore, so it worked out. Plus, I had to find out if Colin was going to follow through on his promise of "something special" after a sickness-shortened show last November. We kicked off the evening with BBQ and brews at Leah & Laura's. Awesome. I am so glad it's spring. Leah threw out all the hamburger buns though, and I had to eat my garden burger on a hot dog bun. We improvise well. It was gooooood. (PS - the Sporting Life picture over there is for Leah - since Colin didn't play it tonight... :) Plus it's one of my favorite Decemberists pics ever...)

We got to the Fillmore at about 10 past 8 and My Brightest Diamond had already started (very much on time!). They only played 'til 8:30 so it was a short set for us. They put on a good live show - Shara only had 2 other band members with her, but they were all very animated and energetic. I'm sad I missed the first part of the set. Oh - and it was Shara's birthday!

Then at some point during the set break, 4 of the most annoying girls on the planet decided to stand right behind us. As soon as The Decemberists took the stage they alternated between talking loudly at each other and singing loudly AND horribly right in my ear. Awesome. Who wants to hear Colin sing when you can have the most dreadful off-key, top of your lungs singing woman right next to you? Oh yeah, me, that's who. I noticed a pattern - for all the songs from The Crane Wife they would alternate between talking and "singing" but for any older song they just talked. Fucking n00bs. The kicker though (which was the moment we finally decided to move) was when Shankill Butchers began and one of them exclaimed "I love this song!" and then proceeded to talk to her friends again. People, seriously... singing loudly and out of tune is meant for your car and your shower. And if you want to talk, talk between sets. Or don't come to the show.

Although my view suffered a bit, moving away from the yakky bitches still vastly increased my enjoyment of the show. I could actually hear Colin sing. It was fabulous. Early on, Colin proved that he remembered the November debacle and promised they'd play right up to curfew (11:00 on a Sunday; they took the stage at about 9:00). There were plenty of antics - from a "la dee dah" contest during 16 Military Wives, to a dance contest during The Perfect Crime to (of course) the audience participation in Sons And Daughters - where, I might add, Colin told us that we are the most pitch perfect crowd they've ever played for. Awwww.

For the encore, Colin played a couple songs solo - and asked for requests. If I was closer and/or possessed a booming voice, I would have asked for Apology Song... :) The first request was for Mariner's Revenge.... though it would have been interesting to see him try, I'm not too sure Colin can manage that one by himself. But he promised to play it with the rest of the band (w00t!). The next request (much more appropriate) was for Joanna Newsom's Bridges And Balloons. Lovely. Then on to Red Right Ankle, where Jenny joined Colin (on the organ) for a short time. Lastly was indeed The Mariner's Revenge Song, complete with theatrical whale and lots of dancing. We didn't get a lot of practice in being swallowed by that whale, because it was close to curfew and they were afraid of getting "unplugged". Haha. Needless to say, Colin managed to keep his "special" promise in the last three songs alone... It was an amazing show. They actually ended up playing until about 5 past eleven, due to John's impromptu rendition of what I think was Michael Jackson's Rock With You, while Nate and Chris did some crowd surfing. We think they were actually trying to play until they were unplugged, but the Fillmore was cool. For once. The complete setlist goes like this:

The Crane Wife 1 & 2
The Crane Wife 3
The Island: Come & See/Landlord's Daughter/You'll Not Feel...
The Infanta
July, July!
"Happy Birthday Shara"
Yankee Bayonet (I Will Be Home Then)^
Shankill Butchers
The Engine Driver
On The Bus Mall
O Valencia!
16 Military Wives
The Perfect Crime 2
Sons And Daughters
-----
Bridges & Balloons*
Red Right Ankle*
The Mariner's Revenge Song

^with Shara Worden
*Colin solo

So good. I fell in love with The Crane Wife all over again tonight. I haven't listened to that album - really not too much Decemberists, period - for a couple of months. Listening to it now though, and realizing again how fucking amazing it is. Aaaaaaah.