I danced with Colin Meloy

Then again, so did a lot of people on Thursday night at the Orpheum. That was one crazy-ass concert. Looking back on it, my overall feeling is "That was a great show!" But it didn't really start out that way. They realized that and turned it into a great show, though, which is a really vital talent to have as performers. It separates the decent from the good from the great.

I arrived at the Orpheum a little before doors, fueled by a few handfuls of Cheez-Its I'd managed to scarf down between work and the concert. Woo! Since I know what the balcony is like, I decided to sit in the front row to check out that perspective. Reminder - the stage at the Orpheum is elevated to about seven feet, which is why this isn't an open-and-shut case. There were some annoying aspects of being down there in the front: I couldn't always see John Moen, and some of the people in front of me (yes, some people are dumb enough to get really, really close to the stage so they have to crane their necks at a 90 degree angle to see the perfomance) were distracting. But overall, definitely the right decision. From my spot a few feet back I could see fine (one benefit of an insanely tall stage, after all) and I would have felt really left out in the balcony as the show progressed.

At the beginning, things meandered. Each song, though played well, seemed like an isolated performance; islands of action between tuning and giggling and chatter from the band. It was fun, but not exactly "great show" material. Petra is supposed to high five the front row if she makes a bad joke, but due to the stage, she would run to the corner, bend down, and have people flock to her. Colin had to do this at one point as well. For awhile Jenny's accordion didn't work, Colin flubbed some lines of "16 Military Wives," and totally blanked on a line in "Eli."

The good was really quite good, however. Solo, Colin covered "When I Was a Baby" by the Donner Party. We heard "Engine Driver" and "On the Bus Mall," among my favorite one-two song punches of all time. And finally, at my fourth Decemberists concert, I heard the aforementioned "16 Military Wives." Ahhh.

Then, the real goofiness began. Before "Chimbley Sweep" Colin ran us through some calisthenics, and wound up by leading us in waving our arms in the air while singing a few bars of "With or Without You" by U2. During "Chimbley Sweep," Colin gave Chris Funk a sensual chest massage before playing his guitar from behind. Then he invited everyone onto the stage while Petra, Nate, John, Chris, and Jenny jammed. I almost went up there, but after noting the sizeable wall to be scaled, wisely decided against it. There must have been forty kids up there, though. Meanwhile, Colin came down and danced with those of us on the floor in front. By the end of "Chimbley Sweep," he had the crowd in the palm of his hand.

The encore was "Mariner's Revenge Song," and Chris busted out an awesome set of cardboard whale jaws for the occasion. (He'd earlier joked that the tall stage was theirs and they got it from Cheap Trick, by the way. I thought, "Oh, if only you guys were taking it with you.") Colin sat dangling his legs off the stage and pretending to kick people. He also flung picks into the crowd.

But that's not quite the end. Once the show was over, the band started playing a game of keep-away with Chris Funk's mandolin. It dropped on the stage, and suddenly they all rushed to stomp on it! They totally destroyed it, and then started tossing chunks of mandolin into the crowd. It was pretty awesome. I got a very small piece. Plus, I got a setlist, which has a charmingly bad doodle of a satyr (centaur?) on it. I'd like to know who's responsible for that.