Decemberists sing fantastical songs

Before using this concert to convince a friend to visit ("So what if they're playing in your home town? If you come see them here, you'll get to see me too!"), I hadn't given the Decemberists much thought. It was just another indie, kind of weird, quite pretentious band that requires patience to dig and I don't have that kind of patience to give. \nAfter seeing them at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater, I realized the quickest way to get into any band is to see them live. With smaller bands, a concert ticket is cheaper than buying a $20 CD. And if they suck, it's as easy to walk out of a venue as it is to delete their pirated album off your mp3 player. \nThe Decemberists rely on a mish-mash of unusual instruments and story-telling lyrics to create fantastical music. They're an "indie" band only because they're on a well-known indie label, Kill Rock Stars. Their music makes me feel like I'm the wife of a pirate on the Black Sea circa the 19th century, drinking at the bar and hanging out with the house minstrel until he returns home. Without the excellent (although sometimes too loud) sound quality and space of the BCT, some of the band's title tracks telling the tale of "The Legionnaire's Lament" or the story of Miranda in "We Both Go Down Together" would have been lost.\nThe band, currently touring for its fifth album, Picaresque, ups the bawdy and downs the obscurity of their music when playing live. They've brought storytelling back into modern music, engaging listeners with what's being described in a song instead of only bobbing their head to the beat. The band's drummer and lead guitarist (John Moen and Chris Funk, respectively) keep the pretentiousness of lead singer Colin Meloy at bay by occasionally laying down to nap during a song or by throwing a cymbal across the stage. \nThe most entertaining moment of evening occurred during "A Mariner's Revenge Song" off the new album. When Funk made up and down chomping motions with his arms, it was the audience's cue they were currently being eaten by a whale and to scream "Bloody Mary!" and for their mother to save them. The screaming lasted longer than the song. \nThe only sore point of the night was any moment Rebecca Gates was on stage, a solo artist and former member of the band the Spinanes. She was the opening act for the Decemberists, contrary to the tickets' claim that Willie Mason was opening. She sucked. Big time. The Decemberists didn't.