Modern Minstrels

Decemberists at The Warfield

The Decemberists rocked The Warfield last night, and I was there to enjoy every minute of it. They opened with The Crane Wife 3 and transitioned seamlessly into The Island. The set definitely leaned towards material from The Crane Wife, which was fine with me because that album is fantastic. For the encore they also treated us to a b-side from that album entitled, Culling Of The Fold.

In addition to the excellent tunes, Colin Meloy didn't fail to entertain the crowd in other ways as well. He thanked everyone for coming out tonight, even if it meant walking through The 'Loin. He regaled us with a tale of his walk to the venue that night, which involved him witnessing "the most blatant crack deal he'd ever seen".

Later on in the set Colin reached down into the crowd, mid-song, and got someone's cell phone. He then proceeded to type on it for a while. I assumed he was sending a text message to someone, but after a bit he held the phone up to his ear and then when he started singing again, held it to the microphone. After the song was over, he gave the cell phone back and said "by the way, that was his mom that I called." How great is that?

One last thing I need to add, is that The Warfield is one of my least favorite venues in SF. The main reason being that the sound is typically really bad. However, last night I thought the sound was pretty good, so yay for that.

All in all it was a really fun show. If you've not heard of The Decemberists before, you should definitely check them out and if you have a chance to catch them live, I highly recommend doing so.

A rough set list:

The Crane Wife

• The Crane Wife 3
• The Island: Come & See/The Landlord's Daughter/You'll Not Feel The Drowning
• Yankee Bayonet (I Will Be Home Then)
• O Valencia!
• The Perfect Crime #2
• Shankill Butchers
• Sons and Daughters
• The Crane Wife 1&2
• Culling of the Fold (b-side)

Picaresque

• We Both Go Down Together
• The Engine Drive
• 16 Military Wives

Castaways and Cutouts

• Odalisque
• A Cautionary Song
• The Legionnaire's Lament

Matt Nathanson at Sweetwater

Matt is currently on tour with Carbon Leaf, but before he left for the tour he did a special Bay Area show, which I (along with several of my co-workers) happily attended.

The show was at the SweetWater Saloon in Mill Valley (just north of SF), which was a fantastic, tiny venue. We ended up being only 3 or 4 rows back from the front, which was great. Matt came out wearing a larger sombrero, and thanked us all for coming because he knew everyone was only there because they "couldn't get tickets to see Guns N Roses" who were also playing that night. To ease the pain, he treated us to the intro of Sweet Child O' Mine. Oh, and he also invented a new word: pyronecrobestiality. Don't ask...

The set was a good mix of classic Matt songs and a bunch of stuff from the new full band album coming out later this fall. Highlight of the set was almost certainly the full band version of the new song Detroit Waves. Matt played that song solo when I saw him back in May and I loved it then. And the full band version rocked just as hard as expected.

It's been too long since the show for me to remember many more specific details, but needless to say, Matt was as entertaining as always. Also, I got my first ever setlist! I saw it setting on the keyboard after the show when I went back to the bathroom, but I felt kind of bad about just yoinking it, so I didn't. However, when I came out of the bathroom, Aaron (the keyboardist) was there putting equipment away, so I asked if I could have the set list and he said "Sure! It's not totally accurate, but it's all yours." w00t!

If his tour is coming near you, I highly recommend you go...I guarantee you will enjoy it. I know I'm hoping he does another special SF show after the tour ends.