The Decemberists with The BSO - updated with video

This past Saturday evening I saw The Decemberists play with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra at Merriwether in Columbia, MD. I was lucky enough to receive 2 free tickets from a very generous work acquaintance. We had pretty fantastic seats, probably about 30 rows back. The great seats almost made me not mind paying $9 a beer, almost.

The show was amazing. The Decemberists are great musicians and their sound was only enhanced with the backing of a full orchestra. They played for about an hour, took a 15-minute intermission, then came back for another 40 minutes or so, before one final encore song. As great as the show was, I still wanted more when they were done. An extra 2-song encore would have been perfect.

I can’t remember the exact set list, but here are some of the songs they played, The Crane Wife 1&2, The Infanta, We Both Go Down Together, O Valencia!, The Perfect Crime #2, The Bagman’s Gambit, a new song that was 17 minutes long and awesome. They ended with a killer rendition of The Mariner’s Revenge Song, which has been stuck in my head ever since.

I was expecting big things from this show and I was definitely not disappointed. After the show we met up with some friends in DC and went to a house party of a friend of a friend. After walking for what seemed like 10 miles, we found the house. This was one of the largest parties I’ve been to in quite a long time. There was even a DJ in the living room. Craziness.

After a very nice, lazy, relaxing Sunday, it’s back to work. Oh Mondays. Maybe the new music I received this morning will help me through. I’m starting off with the new Minus the Bear album, Planet of Ice. So far it sounds pretty dope.

P.S. I just found this on YouTube. You can’t really see the full orchestra in this view, but you sure can hear them. Enjoy.