Friday night, I took the trek from DC down to Richmond, VA to see The Decemberists at The National. The band has been touring for quite some time now promoting their relatively new album, "The Hazards of Love." It was a night of firsts--first time to travel more than a couple of hours to get to a venue, first time to see The Decemberists live, first time in The National. As such, there's a lot to say.I should have known that the show would be spectacular when the TicketMaster tickets said "The Decemberists with Special Guests." Special guests, indeed. Rebecca Stark of Lavender Diamond and Shara Worden of My Brightest Diamond joined Colin et al. for the tour. It was crazy good. At the close of the evening, Shara and Rebecca sang a killer version of Heart's Crazy On You. If it hadn't been The Decemberists, they easily could have stolen the show.
As for the band themselves, they amazed me. The show was a really intriguing mix of songs--old and new. The Decemberists' previous work was still, just, golden. The new material, which is great on the album, is even better live (a thing, in my opinion, is difficult to achieve). Colin played the songs exactly as they are on their respective albums, right down to the smallest inflection. But then, in between songs, Colin would become this massively charming, suave (yes, suave!) entertainer. We experienced Colin in his greatest glory...and I swear, I fell in love...again.
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