THE DECEMBERISTS AT COLLEGE STREET MUSIC HALL IN NEW HAVEN

Everyone's favorite literary-core and indie folk rock royalty, The Decemberists, recently brought their tour to College Street Music Hall in New Haven, CT. Oh what glory in the wanton way I've awaited them to grace my ears with my ambitious camera click.

I'll leave the lyricism to Colin.

The show opened with a powerhouse set by Chicago up and coming alt-indie staples, Ratboys, who got the packed crowd bobbing around like children overprescribed with Ritalin. Ratboys filled the room with classic strum-heavy, alt-rock riffs and scream-along vocal lines filled with curious angst and melancholic sway.

Colin Meloy, the band's lead guitarist and lyricist, walked on stage to a haunting arrangement of the Romantic-era Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg's, “Morning Mood” from Peer Gynt. This set the tone for the start of the set as if the audience had just awoken from a deep slumber alongside a riverbank to find a wiley band of mystical forest nymphs serenading them.

Their set opened with a stripped down acoustic trio featuring a flugelhorn performing, “All I Want is You”, a sobering serenade that had the crowd in a wide-eyed stare.

Then began the show's narrative experience by invoking a soap-box orator retelling the grisly history of the “Shankhill Butchers”. The band expanded to a roots revival quartet with the addition of Jenny Conlee on accordion and Nate Query on upright bass dimly illuminated by a foreground of vine bound lamps.

The set was laden with a blend of fan favorites like "Crane Wife" and "Wanting Comes in Waves/Repaid", which stoked the deep connection the long time fans share with the band's expansive discography; "16 Military Waves" evoked a similar familial experience as a statement on the current socio-political climate from the lens of a sardonic mockery of nationalistic pride.

With the upcoming release of their new album As It Was, So It Will Be Again on June 14, 2024, the band highlighted the album's hit single "Burial Ground". They introduced new tracks which featured a New Orleans street Latin jazz bop called "Oh No!" and a dream-like ghost story, "Long White Veil" graced by pedal steel swells.

Colin Meloy closed out the show with a glass of red wine and a somber soliloquy of determination called "I Was Meant for the Stage" which felt apropos for a curtain call closer.

The band did, however, return for an encore with the closing track of their new album, "Joan in the Garden", which is an experimental progressive rock opera that departs from the conventional as it ventures into uncharted musical waters for the genre-bending band as they pioneer a new eclectic sound.

Be certain to experience their upcoming album As It Was, So It Will Be Again on June 14, 2024.