Do you know how I can tell I'm listening to great music?  I get a lump in my throat, much in the same way people do during sad movies.  I don't know why, but very occasionally I'll be listening to a piece of music, sometimes singing along, or practicing my guitar, and that lump just shows up.  It's my body's way of telling me that I'm listening to something special, something better than your average tune. 

Last night, watching the Decemberists perform their album, The Hazards of Love, in its entirety, it was an hour of nearly continuous lump.

The show started early.  The ticket said 8:00, and by 8:45 the Decemberists were on, following a short set by opener Robyn Hitchcock and the Venus 3.  It turns out that Radio City Music Hall has a fairly hard curfew, so there was no time to waste.  I think this took a lot of people off guard, because a lot of the seats were empty when they started the prelude to Hazards.  Their loss.

The first hour of the show was the album, straight through, no breaks and no chitchat.  It took me a good amount of time to get into this album, which makes sense, since it's incredibly dense, and a pretty big change from the previous albums.  If there was any need to cement my respect for the work the Decemberists put into Hazards, they took care of it last night.  A phenomenal live band, they performed the whole thing perfectly, and the challenge of performing such a dense piece live only served to make it better.  The fidelity offered by hearing each individual instrument and voice only opened up my appreciation for this piece of music.  The icing on the cake were the performances by Shara Worden (the Queen or "deep voice") and Becky Stark (Margaret or "high voice"), who did a fine job, but absolutely and completely obliterated the crowd with their powerful voices.  I could listen to Shara Worden belt out damn near anything she wanted at this point.  I was awestruck, and the two tracks on which she sings vocals, "The Wanting Comes in Waves/Repaid" and "The Queens Rebuke/The Crossing" might have been my favorite parts.  If you had any trouble getting into the album, seeing it performed live would almost surely open your eyes.  While the whole thing was impressive, one highlight was "The Rake's Song," where most of the band took up their own drums, collaborating on a mighty rhythmic thumping the whole way through.

A quick break, and the band returned to play some of their older material for another hour.  It's interesting, in comparison to the musical material on Hazards, it took a little while to get into the songs from the past, which seemed a bit simple by comparison.  I quickly got over that, and we were treated to a sampling of what I suppose would be considered "hits" with bigger bands, starting with "Crane Wife 3" and moving through "July, July," and "O Valencia,"i t took them a little while to shift into a more fun mode, following the first half of the show it seemed.  But some 4 part vocal participation from the crowd on "Billy Liar" really stood out.  During "The Chimbley Sweep" a guitar duel between Meloy and guitarist Chris Funk broke out, which lead to a couple of audience members strapping on guitars, despite having no idea how to play them.  Meloy toured the audience, climbing over chairs and getting all up in there. 

Following an encore break, the band returned with Peter Buck from R.E.M. on guitar, and they played some R.E.M. song I didn't know.  I don't even like R.E.M. but that made me say "wow."  What followed was probably the highlight of the evening, when Meloy stepped forward and started noodling on the acoustic guitar at the front of the stage.  As he did so, Worden and Stark made their way back out, and I realized he was playing the opening bits of Heart's "Crazy on You".  When I say that I didn't expect to hear or be stunned by a Heart song at a Decemberists show, you'll just have to believe me, but those amazing female voices came back again, and blew the theater away.  We're talking about a seated venue where everyone ended up on their feet without protest, cheering with joy.  There might have been another lump at that point; for a Heart song.  Hey, when rock is good, it just is.  The festivities closed with Sons and Daughters and some more singalong, a Decemberists staple, and the crowd singing along with "Here all the bombs fade away" to end the evening.

I'm a cranky concert goer, but the Decemberists have to be one of the best acts working today in contemporary rock.  It's fun, it's tight, and it's incredibly musicianship.  I imagine circumstances would have to be fairly dire indeed for me to skip a Decemberists show when they show up in town.

Don't believe me about "Crazy On You"?

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