In Which I Briefly Review This Saturday's Decemberists' Show

The Decemberists played at the Pageant on Saturday with My Brightest Diamond opening up for them. The Decemberists were great, even if they didn't really do any fun audience participation type things they are getting known for. Well, they did do a crowd sing-a-long on 16 Military Wives, dividing the crowd into four groups and directing each group to sing "da-dee-dah, dee-dotty-dotty-dah" on cue. They freaking started off with The Tain, all 25 minutes of it. Then into The Crane Wife, Pt. 3 and then Yankee Bayonet. The aforementioned 16 Military Wives was awesome, as was Sons and Daughters, a completely rocking version of The Island..., and show closer Mariner's Revenge Song.

My Brightest Diamond opened. Singer Shara Worden often reminded me of Bjork and, at times, Tanya Donelly. Worden flung herself around the stage and stomped and shouted and yelped her way through a great set. So much so, that at one point, she slipped on the stage and fell -- HARD -- on her back, in mid-song. She hopped right back up and kept on playing, like a true trooper. This was the second time I had seen them; the first was when they opened for DeVotchKa last fall, and they impressed me even more. The second to last song of their set was a spot-on cover of Led Zepplin's "No Quarter" that was far better than it had any right to be.