This post is from Out the Other's 2009 Bonnaroo Artist Previews, where I will be posting previews of all the musical acts playing the 2009 Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival. Please check out and subscribe to the full site to learn more about all of this year's performers.
Editor's Note: This is a guest preview from Jenny Stracener, a Murfreesboro-based writer and photographer who writes the blog Conglomeration Fabrication. Jenny can be reached via her website or at jannephotography@gmail.com.
Whales, rouge characters and a concept album: The Decemberists.
Why do these few terms bring to mind the band that just released their fifth full length record? Let me explain...
1) Whales: The band played the [now defunct] City Hall in Nashville in April 2007. Gillian Welch and David Rawlings showed up to play a song or two with the band, but the part that really stood out was when the pair could be found not behind the microphone, but under the well-made but homemade whale costume (think similar to a Chinese dragon costume with two people). The whale made its way all over the stage during "Mariner's Revenge Song," the band stretching the song (and also their encore) to fifteen minutes and starting many different "dance offs" in the crowd before the song was over. This show was over two years ago and still sticks out in my mind - needless to say their 'Roo set will more than likely be just as memorable, whale costume or not.
2) Rouge characters: The writing that singer Colin Meloy shares through his work with the Decemberists is lit rock to the utmost degree, if there is such a genre (some don't believe there is). Many of the songs are set in the past, bringing to mind and describing rouge characters like sailors, prostitutes (but they do it so their children can eat, the song says), soldiers and other interesting folks from Meloy's mind who could have realistically walked the earth, even if they never really did.
3) Concept Albums: The first few Decemberists releases were vaguely themed, but the band's first foray into the concept album was 2006's The Crane Wife, which interweaved a folk tale from Japanese culture throughout the songs on the record. The band took the theming idea even further this year with the release of The Hazards of Love, a full concept record complete with different supporting characters and a tour that saw the band performing the album's songs in order at all of the shows. The show at 'Roo will be the last of the first leg of their tour and I'm not sure if they will be playing the album all the way through, but something tells me there's going to be a good chance for new material, no matter what order it is presented in. And don't worry, the band has also been playing other songs for a second set on the most recent tour, so it's still possible to hear and see your favorite, classic Decemberists jams.
"A Bower Scene"
"The Wanting Comes In Waves/Repaid"
The Decemberists will play the This Tent on Saturday from 7-8:30 p.m. Check out the full Bonnaroo schedule on the official Bonnaroo website.
