The Decemberists @ O2 Academy, Glasgow, 5 Nov

Portland, Oregon’s original hipsters dropped anchor in Glasgow for a night that was slow to start but brought new and old songs together perfectly

Live Review by Eala Macalister | 09 Nov 2018

The Decemberists are mostly known for their storytelling, although in latest effort I’ll be Your Girl released earlier this year, lyricist Colin Meloy looked inwards more. The first half of tonight's show is slow to start but Meloy’s dry wit helps keep things going. "You’re very attentive," he points out, not necessarily meaning it as a compliment.

Even new songs, such as Cutting Stone and Once in My Life, are greeted like old friends by the crowd and, by the second half, both the audience and band have thoroughly warmed up. Meloy encourages audience participation, and gets dangerously close to unleashing his inner rock god on a couple of occasions, while Jenny Conlee effortlessly switches between keyboards and accordion. In instrumentation, The Decemberists have always been adventurous and prepared to use whatever is at their disposal – which makes for a pleasingly varied live show.

Older songs such as The Crane Wife and O Valencia are met with the most warmth tonight; during We All Die Young, Meloy turns choirmaster, getting the now-up-for-it Monday night crowd to join in and repeat the chorus after him. The final chords of Once in My Life have barely quietened when the crowd start stamping their feet, wanting more.

The Decemberists oblige with the highlight of the night, The Mariner's Revenge Song, a sea shanty about a man getting revenge on a sailor who had wronged his mother. The band get right into this final song, with Nate Query using his double bass as a paddle, swaying, while a massive inflatable whale emerges from the shut off balcony.

What threatened, at the beginning, to be uninspiring instead turned into a fun and imaginative gig that only a band like The Decemberists could pull off. Both band and audience had a whale of a time.

http://www.decemberists.com/