Without a doubt, The Decemberists are the number one band I am looking forward to seeing at Bonnaroo this year. Their performance at Bonnaroo in 2007 is one of the greatest concert memories of my lifetime. For the 2007 fest, I had the good fortune to bring along with me a dear friend of mine named Damian. As he was barely 18 at the time, he and I had some pretty serious disparities in our must-see lists for that year’s performers. Me and D go way back, to when he was a small child. Long story short, this young man is like a son to me. So I was very gratified with his overwhelmingly positive response to some of the older performers that I wanted him to check out, such as John Fogerty and Wilco.
Damian made me promise to join him for the Decemberists’ performance and what we witnessed that day converted me instantly into a big fan. With the midday sun beating down on the Which Stage, the Decemberists’ performance was energetic, passionate, humorous, and rife with drama and choreography. Their songs captivated me, even as some of them stretched out into 15-20 minute epics. In particular I was struck by their performance of “The Tain”, an 18-minute opus that ebbs and flows through numerous changes in mood and tempo. There’s a lot of things that I love about the Decemberists, not the least of which is the sense of humor and bravery that guides their willingness to take as long as they need to tell a story. Not many bands could pull off a twenty-minute mini-opera in front of a festival crowd and have them eating out of their hands for the entire tune. I overheard some idiotic sorority girl rumblings during their set that still crack me up to this day. Complaints that the Decemberists were “weird” and “all their songs are too long”!
For me, it was this experience more than any other that has come to symbolize how Bonnaroo bridges generational gaps with its diverse line-up. In this case it was a young friend who drew my attention to an intriguing and relatively new contemporary band. And I’d like to think that Damian too went home with a deeper appreciation for a number of artists whose heyday was way before his time. Every year at Bonnaroo I am exposed to new artists that I was not previously familiar with. Conversely, I see tons of young kids at the festival each year getting turned on to the music of artists like Allen Toussaint and Ornette Coleman, which I can only assume that many of them had never heard before.
The band has caught some flack for some of their records. Even their loyal fan base is divided over some of their recent releases. I’m rather fond of The Crane Wife, for example, but I’ve met a number of Decemberists fans who do not care for it at all. Ditto 2009’s The Hazards Of Love. That is hands down my favorite record by them. But apparently it was too expansive and “prog” for a lot of listeners. Shit. That’s what I LIKED about it! At any rate, the band’s courage and band leader Colin Meloy’s singular vision have steered the Decemberists unscathed through the choppy waters of mixed reviews. Late last year the band released The King Is Dead, a much more acoustic and rootsy-sounding record than their previous effort. The album has been embraced by fans and heavy rotation on college radio has undoubtedly garnered some new fans for the band as well. Meloy’s songwriting is stronger than ever and the barnyard hootenanny mode seems to suit the band really well for the time being. God only knows what they’ll sound like next year. But for now they are riding high on the success of The King Is Dead.
The band plays the huge What Stage on Friday afternoon at 5:30, and I’m a little chagrined that they are playing the big stage this year. On the one hand it makes me happy for them because it is a sign of their growing popularity. However the What Stage is so big that it gives listeners absolutely no sense of up-close intimacy with the band. It’s ironic, given the down-homey acoustic nature of their new record that the crowd is kept at considerable remove from the performers high up on a giant stage behind layers of barricades and security guards. The Decemberists’ performance will be a definite highlight of my weekend, no doubt. But after I inch my way up close for a few numbers I will probably bail to the way back for more elbow room. The sound is always great on the What Stage. So after a glimpse of the band from up close, I’ll be content to fall back to a comfortable spot on the grass where I can sit for the remainder of their set. The vast field in front of the What Stage is often pretty empty in the way back during the daylight hours before the big headliners take the stage at night. If I’m lucky, I’ll find some people throwing Frisbee back there during the Decemberists’ set and ask if I can join them.
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