The Portland band enthusiastically powered through an engaging set of old hits and new at Meijer Gardens on Monday, in spite of frontman’s recent vocal strain. Review, photo gallery.
Unique, Tailored Set: The Decemberists on stage at Meijer Gardens. (Photo/Anthony Norkus)
Colin Meloy, frontman and primary songwriter for folk-rock stalwarts The Decemberists, has a knack for spinning yarns about plucky characters who often are beset by troubles both big and small (war, whales, old-timey illnesses, hauntings, a general malaise).
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‘Rox in the Box’: Frontman Colin Meloy of The Decemberists. (Photo/Anthony Norkus)
When faced with his own recent challenges — while admittedly modest in comparison to those typically plaguing his fictional coterie of scoundrels and wastrels — Meloy demonstrated a good sense of humor (and some possibly self-destructive dedication to the audience).
The Decemberists, who performed Monday night to a sold-out Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park crowd, were forced just two days earlier to postpone and reschedule an Indianapolis show due to Meloy’s “acute vocal strain.” (Incidentally, the band canceled a 2011 Indianapolis performance for the same reason. What kind of villainy and scalawags could be at play in that Midwestern city?)
While not fully recovered, Meloy and company did a bang-up job in Grand Rapids, modifying the evening’s roughly one-and-a-half-hour set to 16 songs that wouldn’t further beat up on the lead vocalist’s larynx. Crowd participatory sing-alongs and the steady vocal work of the band’s women helped to fill in any blanks that may have arisen during the night.
“Two days ago, I had no voice. You’re getting a set tailored to go easy on my voice, so it’s unique in that way,” said Meloy, who also was forced to somewhat curb his trademark stage banter, though a few witticisms — and falsettos — still made it through. “I’ve spent two days in Grand Rapids not talking and (it’s making me crazy).”
FROM ‘THE MARINER’S REVENGE SONG’ TO ‘SEVERED’
The Grand Rapids-special set list covered a wide selection of the band’s 18-year career, from rollicking early-catalog sea shanties (show closer “The Mariner’s Revenge Song” from 2005’s “Picaresque,” complete with audience-surfing inflatable whale) to mid-career sea shanties (“Rox in the Box” from 2011’s “The King is Dead”) and beyond.
Opener: Eleanor Friedberger was joined by members of The Decemberists. (Photo/Anthony Norkus)
While earlier tour stops have pulled heavily from the electro-tinged “I’ll Be Your Girl,” the band’s most recent release, Monday’s appearance skipped several of the album’s key tracks like “Once in My Life” and “Your Ghost.”
The disco-esque lead single, “Severed,” however, did make a welcome appearance much to this reviewer’s delight — and to the apparent delight of the rad older music fan seated in front of me who mimed passing a non-existent joint to his wife during the track’s pulsing synth breakdown. (Rock on, sir!)
Other songs to round out the evening included standbys like “O Valencia!”, “Red Right Ankle,” “Grace Cathedral Hill” and “Sons and Daughters.” The quiet ballad, “Dear Avery,” from “The King is Dead,” served as a surprising (in a good way) opener for the upbeat show.
Singer-songwriter Eleanor Friedberger, perhaps best known for her work in The Fiery Furnaces, opened the show with a 30-plus minute set that welcomed several members of The Decemberists to the stage to share musical duties, including Jenny Conlee who helped Friedberger rock a cover of Procol Harum’s “Whiter Shade of Pale.”
PHOTO GALLERY: The Decemberists, Jenny Friedberger at Meijer Gardens
Photos by Anthony Norkus
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