ARTICLE BY CHERYL CHENG
PHOTOS BY LESLIE KALOHI
APRIL 28 | HOLLYWOOD—The last time Colin Meloy was in town, he performed with his band The Decemberists as well as the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl. But tonight, it was just him, which Colin jokingly said was great, because all the chips and salsa were for him … and the Philharmonic sure can eat. The Decemberists singer is currently on tour in support of new album Colin Sings Live!, a compilation of songs from his past solo tours. And upon listening to the album, you get a pretty clear sense of his shows—they’re fun in a bit of a dorky way, including hand claps, sing alongs and silly jokes. Colin has said that he wants these shows to have a campfire-type atmosphere, and they truly do—but without the actual fire.
Tonight Mr. Meloy was ready to compensate for his missing band members, managing to fill the entire stage with his presence. Well, he wasn’t entirely alone. At one point he introduced his backing band, which included a mermaid figurine named Consuelo, a half-eaten bag of M&Ms named Blaine and a framed picture of a sock monkey named Alex. It was this kind of humor that the audience enthusiastically welcomed, as Colin often shifted between light humor and more serious material.
To fans’ delight, several Decemberists tracks were performed, including The Crane Wife tracks “The Perfect Crime #2,” “Shankill Butchers” and “O Valencia,” which Colin interrupted with a bit of Morrissey’s “First of the Gang to Die.” The snippet demonstrated the singer’s continual love for Morrissey, whom Colin covered in his first tour-only EP. The tour-only EP available tonight was Colin Meloy Sings Sam Cooke, from which track “Cupid” was performed.
One of the show’s highlights was, as expected, “Los Angeles, I’m Yours.” Colin teased the crowd by playing a few notes on his guitar and then stopping as if he changed his mind about performing the song. Eventually he did, sparking a loud sing along among the audience. At its conclusion, a person asked, “So you don’t like Los Angeles?” to which Colin replied, “I have a weird relationship with Los Angeles.” When pressed further by others, he demurred, saying he couldn’t say anything that hasn’t already been said.
The crowd was also treated to “Dracula’s Daughter,” a song Colin describes as “the worst song I ever wrote.” Luckily, the song is short and a nice contrast to the more melancholy numbers, such as “The Engine Driver,” during which the audience echoed the verse “If you don’t love me, let me go.” In many instances, Colin was backed by those in the audience, who often supplied the “oooohs” and “la la la” melodies for the songs.
The most interactive number of the night was “The Mariner’s Revenge Song,” which was the final song of the encore. Most Decemberists fans know this eight-plus-minute song is a very interactive number, and the band has in the past brought out a prop whale to act out the parts in the song. Tonight Colin again relied on the crowd to sing the main chorus and clap along. But when he sings, “And the captain quailed,” this is usually when bassist/cello player Nate Query does his imitation of a captain quailing. So Colin called upon the audience to do their best imitation, and he was immensely satisfied with the results. Dorky fun, right? In the end, after Colin thanked the crowd, everyone seemed to be in good spirits. He had succeeded in his goal of creating a warm, campfire-like environment. And the only thing that would have topped the night would have been to have the rest of the band there, but there’s always next time.
For more photos of the show, see The Scenestar’s photo gallery.
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