Last night I had the pleasure of seeing the Decemberists live in Toronto.

The show was incredible.

I was left with an even greater respect for how rich their sound is - fueled by Colin Meloy’s fantastic voice (it held up amazingly well) and the diverse (diverse!) instruments they layer on top of each other (acoustic guitar, steel guitar, violin, upright bass, accordion, organ, bouzouki (aside: bouzouki sounds like something yelled at moments of great excitement… “bouzouki!”), banjo, hurdy gury, etc.)

I desperately wanted to hear three songs - two from the new album (safe bets): Perfect Crime 2, and Crane Wife 1 & 2; and, one of my favourite songs from last year, July, July.

When they broke into July, July near the start of the concert I knew it was going to be a great evening of music. They hit all three of my requests, played another old favourite (The Legionnaire’s Lament) and most of their new album (a must own).

Two especially bouzouki! things beyond hearing the songs I wanted:

- Like this person, I discovered an “overlooked song while its beautiful lyrics floated around my head. ‘Red Right Ankle‘ was absolutely, absolutely delicious.“

- The crowd singing “hear all the bombs fade away” over and over at the end of Sons and Daughters rolled around my head as I drifted off to sleep. A nice memory of an evening of great music.

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