Photo Credit: CJ Foeckler
The new Decemberists album, What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World, doesn’t begin with a vengeful tale of two sailors trapped inside the belly of a whale or a long-lost Civil War-era love. Rather the opener eschews those indulgent literary devices for a far more straightforward attitude. You see, on “The Singer Addresses His Audience” singer Colin Meloy doesn’t embody a steerage-level bandleader engaging in banter with a drunken, tattered crowd: He simply addresses his current audience (“We know, we know, we belong to ya / We know you built your life around us / Would we change, we had to change some.”) Meloy is referencing his own band’s styles and moods that have slightly varied in order to keep things fresh. The record turns out to be quite the change from 2011’s chart-topping The King Is Dead, and it happens to be The Decemberists’ most personal album, or at least the most matter of factly about themselves.
At Wednesday’s sold-out Riverside Theater performance, Meloy initially came out alone dressed in a grey suit carrying a glass of red wine to address his audience with his acoustic guitar. While the song comes across a smidge confrontational towards its own fans, it remained funny enough to not feel haughty and judgmental. Eventually the rest of the band joined in, including new contributors—backup singers Nora O’Connor and Kelly Hogan, and the song swelled with the extra accompaniment.
Perhaps due to the wine, Meloy appeared in a jovial mood all night. The affable frontman shared a simple song in which he pleaded with his newborn son to eat, which he played off the cuff before seamlessly merging into “Calamity Song.” He brushed off the hoots and hollers from the slightly buzzed crowd with ease (“I love opium,” one man shouted. “You don’t need a song then,” Meloy responded). And he established full control over his audience during the call-and-response portion of “Sixteen Military Wives."
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The only misstep was the overwrought portion near the end of the set that featured two Hazards of Love tracks, “The Wanting Comes in Waves / Repaid” and “The Rake’s Song.” These selections from the band’s prog rock opera couldn’t help but feel out of place. The heavy blues rock riffage and booming vocal performance from O’Connor didn’t fit within the set of largely Americana tunes, especially after a haunting rendition of the twangy new cut “Low Carolina.” But that distaste was largely forgotten by the time set closer “The Mariner’s Revenge Song” rolled around. The epic revenge tale was acted out as a theatrical performance, including the appearance of a large cardboard whale that swallowed the musicians whole. At that point you feel like the subject of the Decemberists’ opening song and are just glad to be along for the ride.
