You always end up in the city

Given all of my travels lately, I’ve been neglecting local shows. I did my best to remedy that situation early this week: hitting three shows in three nights; Monday through Wednesday.



First up was the New Pornographers with Okkervil River. Though Okkervil River opening was a great bonus, I bought the ticket because I love the New Pornographers. It was a little surprising to me, then, that I wound up enjoying Okkervil’s set more than the NP’s on Monday. Not that the New Pornographers played a bad show. I enjoyed it, and “Myriad Harbour” with Will Sheff performing Dan’s parts was completely awesome. It's just that aside from the Okkervil River guest appearances, nothing distinguished this performance for me from any other. The high stage at the Orpheum – about which I’ve never seen a performer fail to comment – isn’t the most conducive to audience interaction. That didn’t seem to bother Okkervil River, though. They played a terrific set, and Will made a definite effort to connect with the crowd.



Tuesday was my first of two Colin Meloy shows, at the Pabst in Milwaukee. The presale treated me well, and I found myself seated in the first row of the pit. Unfortunately, at the Pabst, the front row is a bit too close. Not too close in an “oh, poor me so close to the performer in the front row!” kind of way, but too close in a “my knees are in danger of bumping the stage, and half an hour into the show my neck will start to hurt” kind of way. Nevertheless, it was a fun perspective for a nice night of acoustic songs from Colin. The crowd at the Pabst was a bit more subdued than I was expecting given the usual tone of a Decemberists show, but the Pabst does have a way of hushing people. Discovering Colin’s tour EP of Sam Cooke covers was a nice surprise for me. He’s done a cover EP for each of his solo tours, but for some reason this one totally escaped my notice until I saw it at the merch table. Seeing him duet with opener Laura Gibson on “Cupid” was a lot of fun. Speaking of Laura Gibson, her voice was a great fit with the quiet theatre.



Wednesday was Colin Meloy and Laura Gibson, again, at the Barrymore. It occurred to me before the show that it was the first time I’d ever attended multiple Decemberists or Colin Meloy shows on the same tour, let alone on back to back nights. I was pleasantly surprised by the setlists: Colin only repeated six songs over the two shows. One of those, “Red Right Ankle,” was a request on Wednesday night – so it’s possible a different song was planned in its place. “Red Right Ankle” is always welcome, but I would have loved to hear “Grace Cathedral Hill.” Something tells me the Bay Area may get that next week, when I’m working night shifts mere miles away. Other highlights for me included “Engine Driver” at the Barrymore, and various amusing psychedelic song intros in Milwaukee. I also enjoyed previewing three new songs, which the Decemberists may or may not record. Presumably Colin will learn all the words before that happens.

The Final Countdown

That song was requested of Colin Meloy last night, but he didn't play it. Well, he did one line. There was plenty of other amusement, though. Whenever I see Colin or the Decemberists nowadays, I can't help but recall that I first saw them at the now defunct bar/club Luther's Blues less than two years ago ... and I'd narrowly missed them at Catacombs coffee house earlier that year. Luther's held about 600 people. Now Colin is headlining places like Park West (capacity around 1200) all by himself. That makes me feel old. "In my day, the Decemberists played coffee houses, and I had to walk 40 miles uphill in the snow each way to get to school..."

He's definitely up to the challenge. Between-song banter was glib and funny without seeming too rehearsed. The music sounded great (though the song for his upcoming baby, albeit sweet, was pretty cheesy) and we even got tacked-on nuggets like a Fleetwood Mac verse and chorus at the end of "Here I Dreamt I Was An Architect" ("Now you guys know the secret of that song") and "California 1/Youth and Beauty Brigade" turning into "California 1/Youth and Beauty Brigade/Ask" as Colin indulged the Smiths geek within. Not to mention "Red Right Ankle." I do love that song.

I got a copy of the "Colin Meloy Sings Shirley Collins" EP, which is once again charmingly decorated by Ms. Carson Ellis and is now sitting next to my copy of "Colin Meloy Sings Morrissey" from last year. I hope he keeps this series up.

My 10 favorite shows of 2005

It turns out I saw exactly forty shows in 2005. I apologize to the thirty that aren't included on this list ... well, I apologize to most of them.

Something funny happened when I looked back over an entire year of music-related memories. It turns out that some of the shows I thought were really awesome right after they happened just don’t stick out in my memory anymore. And some shows that I initially thought were simply “good,” I found myself coming back to and thinking “you know, that was actually pretty freaking sweet.” Of course, some shows I was exactly right about all along.

To cut off further ramblings, here’s my list:

1. 1/29/05 Jeff Tweedy, SnS Basement – This predated my blog, but hot damn. It wasn’t just the best show (weekend, actually) of 2005, it may have been the best one ever.
2. 6/29/05 Wilco, Albright-Knox Art Gallery – I think this was the best Wilco show I saw all year, and I saw a lot of Wilco shows. And the setting couldn’t be beat.
3. 10/20/05 Decemberists, Orpheum – A little sloppy, but as fun and unusual a show as you could hope for. How often does one get to take home a piece of smashed mandolin?
4. 10/26/05 Rhett Miller, High Noon Saloon – Rhett and Madison are an excellent combination.
5. 12/7/05 Jason Molina, Robbie Fulks; Second City – Laid-back, intimate, and super. Robbie covered “Dancing Queen” and “Billie Jean,” and he meant them.
6. 5/9/05 U2, United Center– It may not have done for me what it did four years ago, but a U2 show is still a pretty grand experience – especially from the front row of the “ellipse” in front of The Edge. (Pictures)
7. 5/7/05 Wilco, Vic – the show where everything went wrong onstage created some of my fondest concert memories of the year.
8. 5/23/05 Glenn Kotche, Pick-Staiger Auditorium – I know he was just the opener, but this was the first time I heard and saw up close a lot of Glenn’s upcoming material, and I loved it. I even put one of the songs on a mix CD for a friend’s birthday.
9. 1/19/05 Colin Meloy, Schuba's – the first time I’d seen Colin solo, at one of my favorite places. He was charming, and the songs were lovely.
10. 7/17/05 Wrens, Andrew Bird, Decemberists; Union Park – It was about 100 degrees outside, and dusty, and gross, but this was a really fun trio of performances from a super-appreciative bunch of musicians. (Pictures)

That’s it! I can’t do an honorable mention list, because it would be far too long.