The Decemberists at Koko (19/05/06)

Radar Bros. look a little awkward in front of a clearly fairly disinterested crowd, and that's even before a glaring spotlight is suddenly turned on them mid-song, leading to a cry of "Oh no! The police have caught up with us!". A shame because while admittedly their sound (think Grandaddy with a lot of extra layers of noise) doesn't particularly lend itself to converting newcomers, at least a couple of the songs ("Shovelling Sons", the closer "Papillion") are really very good indeed.

They can't compare to The Decemberists though, who prove themselves once again one of the best lives band I've ever seen. Tonight doesn't quite match up to their astonishing show at ULU last Novemeber - it's at a bigger venue, violinist Petra Hayden isn't there, there's no "Mr. Blue Sky" and thanks to Club NME afterwards meaning a 10pm curfew there's no time for "The Mariner's Revenge Song" either, much to the distress of one guy who shouts out that he's travelled two hours just to see them play it.
Despite all of that though, they put most other bands to shame, playing everything with a stunning confidence and skill that allows them to play with changes and pauses everywhere without breaking the flow and ensures that just about every single song is a highlight. They make everything seem so easy you begin to wonder why not all bands sound this crisp, clear and perfect live (even "For My Own True Love (Lost At Sea)" sounds great!!) without losing any of the emotion in the songs at all. Of course it helps that there's a lot of inherant showmanship there to begin with, but it's still quite the feat and it's no wonder that Colin Meloy has the crowd in the palm of his hand throughout - he even gets us to excercise at one point, although not before a very funny shout of "speak for yourself!" when he suggests that we need to.
The ultimate trick comes during an encore of "The Chimbley Sweep", which mutates from the kind of bustling sea-shanty rock that The Coral would kill for into the the kind of dreamy psychedelia that, well, The Coral would also kill for, before Meloy points at each band member in turn and they exaggeratedly collapse to the floor. He then turns and with a simple gesture gets everyone on the entire floor and first balcony of Koko to sit down at once. It was awe-inspiring when they did the same at ULU but it's even more so tonight and the glee with which everyone jumps up as one once the song resumes pace is if anything even more exciting. Next stop, getting Brixton Academy to sit down?