Decemberists at the Pheonix last week was a 9 out of 10 for me... I only have the last cd (picked up recently) so not knowing much about them I found the show to be great song after great song with very memorable hooks that stayed with me for days. The sound was good, the pacing was great and the on stage banter was damn funny at times. They were soooooo relaxed between songs and very intense during the performances. The encore of Mr Blue Sky (by ELO and done with gusto and bang on ) capped the night. The only quibble being that the on stage banter digressed into the musicians swapping instruments for a badly done jam session for the last song rather then capping it with a great tune. But for that it would have been a 10.
The Wolf Parade, last night at the shoe, by contrast was a great disappointment,
The songs dont have memorable hooks , the sound is similar to arcade fire, but the songwriting is much weaker. The sound tries to be punkish, and admittedly Im not the most formost expert or fan of that genre, but it seems to me the great punk bands still have hooks and melody of a sort. "God save the queen" for instance stays with you even though the sound is rough. Well maybe I just dont get them but after 4 or 5 plays of the damn cd and seeing them live I think Ive tried hard enough....mercy... I give, I GIVE....stop ....I BEG OF YOU.......AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!