Attended a concert by The Decemberists last night. It was particularly fine - literary, musical, melodramatic pop. I suppose it’s not for everyone, but they played several of my absolute favorites in the second (!) full set. Eli the Barrow Boy, and (swoon) California One Youth and Beauty Brigade. The latter made the evening, with all its sweaty closeness and standing room only, for me.
Well, I lie. The very last song they played made everything worth it. They finished with Sons & Daughters, and as they played, I looked around at this beautiful crowd of twentysomethings, all fresh and at the beginning, full of stories yet to be written. They were singing - just about all of them - singing this song of hope and rebuilding. It was overwhelming, and just when I thought I couldn’t grin any wider, Meloy articulately implored the crowd to join together for the last phrase of the song. ‘Hear all the bombs that fade away’, loud and clear, over and over, from this giant crowd of youth. It was so gorgeous, so powerful, so connecting. A $30 concert ticket seems an awfully small price to pay for a little piece of restored faith in humanity.
