a stage full of mistle thrushes

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the_decemberists

last tuesday night, i made a quick decision to go to lawrence to see the decemberists in concert. i had been undecided the whole day, but after finding a few other people that were interested in making the trip over the "that other kansas school" i was able to convince myself. after a few phone calls to my girlfriend it was decided that we'd meet her at the granada. now normally i would have decided that the trip wasn't worth it, but since they are one of my favorite bands, and i know that i could see them with my girlfriend, i decided to go. the decemberists are a great indie band from portland. if you get a chance, listen to them.

my two other friends and i loaded into the car about 7:00 and headed to lawrence. we were running a little late, and were kind of concerned that we might not get tickets. however we walked up to the granada, got our tickets and met jean. to our surprise we hadn't missed the first band. the opening band, sons and daughters, wasn't bad. as surprised as i was listening to them, there is always that anticipation of seeing the band you paid for. the decemberists came out and rock out as expected. they're a very theatrical band, going out and drumming in the crowd, and reenacting being eaten by a giant whale. the only complaint about the concert was the young lad right in front of us, who wanted to dance to every song, in a sort of rhythmic spasm. but what are you going to do, some people just "gotta" dance, and he was obviously a fan.

after the concert we stopped in at jimmy johns, and ate some subs, as we hadn't eaten in our attempt to get to the concert in time. after finishing up, we grabbed some coffee for the trip back. i said good-bye to jean, and we drove west. we all rolled in to manhattan around two, which is no later then a normal night in studio.

i've been into this band for about a year now, and grow to love them more everyday. i never get tired listening to the lyrics and how poetic the words flow together. for the past year their songs have been a staple in the soundtrack to my life. my favorite songs shift depending on what mood i'm in. there is a song on their new album, The Engine Driver, that seems to find it's way to the top of my playlist lately.

colin_meloy

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