Decemberists at Webster Hall

Last night we saw the Decemberists with Sons and Daughters at Webster Hall.


It was a big crowd for the Decemberists, and they were happy to have it. Colin Meloy was a bit too self indulgent, I felt, throughout the show. He was very talky and a lot of the songs dragged out. I'd seen the Decemberists before, at smaller venues, so it wasn't like I was unaware of the theatrical tendancies. It was just all a bit much.

Picaresque is kind of an album of singles and filler for me, so this show had good moments "16 Military Wives", "We all go down together", but then some not so interesting stuff. I think they missed a bunch of their better stuff, including the recent "Engine Driver", oldie "Here I Dreamt I was an Architecht" and "Billy Liar" from in between.

Despite the fact that the show wasn't as good as the last time I saw them, at the Bowery Ballroom, the band is improved. John from the Jicks is a better drummer than they had before and I am definitely in favor of the addition of Petra Haden.

Sons and Daughters are trying to emulate Franz Ferdinand a bit too much for my liking. I like the records, but the live show was a bit too blatant and art school stylized. Still, I expect that they could have played the same show at a smaller venue and I would have been sold on them.

I had a lot of fun last night, and maybe I have just seen too many shows to get as impressed as all the people I overheard raving about "the best show ever" on the way out. Just because it wasn't....