You Are The Good Things
1. Anytime I see a band that I love play a really fantastic live show, it often leads to a month-long obsession in which I crave that band's music and am not content listening to anything else. This is almost guaranteed to happen after seeing the Decemberists live at the Ridglea Theater last night. I had seen them at SXSW a couple of years ago, but the fact that it was a shortened day show combined with the fact that I wasn't overly impressed with their first album left a lot to be desired.
And then came Picaresque, one of the most beautifully lush and verbose albums I've heard in years. The band's tales of suicide pacts and maritime adventures translate brilliantly to the stage, where they are transformed into a collection of witty one-act plays, both comical and morbid.
Their masterpiece, "The Mariner's Revenge Song," featured audience participation, arts-n-crafts props, and the most creative story of revenge ever told in song. However, the highlight of the night was "We Both Go Down Together," a heartwrenchingly gorgeous tale of a pair of lovers' suicide pact. The star of the song, the heartbeat of the melody, is Petra Haden's violin, the thought of which still inspires chills across my body.
Also, I learned how to scream like I'm being swallowed by a whale. So, there's that.
2. The Red Sox did not lose last night. An off-day has never been so exciting.
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