The Decemberists 4/15/17 College St. Music Hall

The Decemberists, Portland Oregon's literate band of indie-prog-folk rockers brought their genre bending show to a sold out College St. Fronted by the the nerdy charisma of  singer guitarist Colin Meloy, aided by keys/accordionist Jenny Conlee, lead guitar (also played pedal steel), bass (electric and standup, drums (melodica too), and two female backup singers put forth a polished and relaxed show. It's been a couple of years since their last release, but the back catalog of songs gave them a sufficient pool to draw from. The setlist included: Down By The Water, O Valencia!, Dear Avery, We Both Go Down Together, The Crane Wife, Lake Song, The Wanting Comes in Waves-repaid, Odalisque, Red Right Ankle, The Chimbley Sweep, and the new Everything's Awful (Meloy's take on the state of the Union). I saw this band at a Newport Folkfest about ten years ago and I must admit that they have grown on me since that time. The quirky hyper-literacy couched in revolutionary war era murder ballads presents an independent indie rock group that has snowballed in popularity. Meloy, a total wordsmith, has hundreds of years of English to pull lyrics from. I was amazed that the crowd seemed to keep up with this wordy juggernaut, the dude next to me sang every song. Rhyming parapet with arabesque or using terms like ventricle and prevaricate made me feel like I was studying for the SATs