It was a Saturday night at the El Rey Theatre; and, it was the fourth show of mini-solo tour for front-man Colin Meloy of The Decemberists. For about two hours, Colin navigated his audience through such Decemberists’ tunes as “We Both Go Down Together”, “Los Angeles I’m Yours” and “Engine Driver” with full command of his medium. Both an excellent songwriter and storyteller, Meloy’s songs are catchy, amusing and literate (“Who brought the dictionary?”), and his live performances only seem to heighten the quality of his songs. Meloy is an artist with a lot confidence in his material, which allows the night to quickly and enjoyably sail along.
Similar to his live shows with the Decemberists, Colin filled the night with several nice comedic interludes and audience participation. With the Decemberists, Colin encourages shouting, singing and falling on the concert floor like a dead bug, amid dueling accordions and bantered giddiness (never used that word before). On Saturday night, Colin came equipped with a table full of props on stage. The small table included a human skull, a wooden pirate ship, a bottle of red wine and a single, Cost Plus wine glass, which Colin drank from the entire night. Throughout the set, Colin made these props as much a part of his set as his guitar. The newest prop to don the table was a little stuffed sheep, which Colin gleefully and graciously allowed the audience to name. At one point, it seemed the sheep was going to be named “Bess”, but in the end, Colin and the audience settled on Erik with a “K”.
Meloy is an artist who really has an amiable stage presence with nice comedic timing. Like Glen Hansard of the Frames and Zach Rogue of Rogue Wave, you find yourself saying, “This is guy I’d enjoy having a cold beer with.” (Ditch the wine, dude.) Watching him play, it’s clear that Colin is a man who is really enjoying life right now. By the strike of midnight, I had only one small complaint. His set would have benefited from more variance in tempo and vocal range, similar to the Decemberists recent extravaganza (another new word) at the Henry Fonda. Every song, as good as they were, all sounded somewhat the same. I know. Blasphemy! May the Gods of Pitchfork strike me down with great vengeance and furious anger. (Of course, this is the usual problem with a solo acoustic seta little one note. Franz Ferdinand anyone? More blasphemy).
The best and funniest moment of the night came when in order to increase the dramatic impact of a song, Colin dropped to his knees, and in the process, unplugged his guitar from his amp. Meloy did his anti-Ryan Adams, and laughed along with the audience at the misstep.
The opening act was Laura Veirs, who never seemed to surpass being average during her hour-long set. Although the crowd seemed to be generally appreciative of her performance (minus one really obnoxious fan), Ms. Veirs seemed more ably backed by her DAT machine rather than her own guitar playing. However, in the end, she was both a competent and able opening act, who clearly enjoyed entertaining the audience.
For me, the highlight of the set came when the attractive young woman standing next to me commented that “this is really good make out music”. The young woman’s comments had a strong impact on me; and, I rushed out and bought the Veirs’ CD the next morning. $14.02 after-tax at Tower Records, if you’re interested. It’s really a small price to pay if you think about it.
Stay tuned for more details; I’ll let you know how the CD works out for me. Candles, wine and Laura VeirsWhew!
