The Hazards of Love
Aug 10, 2009 Artists, Events
Posted by
Amanda Davis
Words can’t express how much fun Lollapalooza was this past weekend. The weather was rainy and gross on Friday and still great fun was had by all. If you have the chance to go next year you should make it a top priority. As soon as I arrived on Friday, Manchester Orchestra started their set. They were the sound of perfection and probably the best performance I saw. But enough about them because I’ve already talked about them recently. My second favorite performance was by none other than The Decemberists. I had listened to them just a smidge before I went to Lollapalooza. Only enough to know that I didn’t want to miss them while I was there.
The Decemberists were utterly captivating to say the least. Their newest cd The Hazards of Love tells a story about a woman named Margaret, her shape-shifting lover William, his forest queen mother and a cold-blooded rake (also known as a douche bag). All the songs on their cd flow together as if it is one musical piece. There really are no words to describe this band or this cd. Their larger than life story-telling lyrics combined with real folk instruments, like the amazing accordian, leave you intrigued to the very last song. They are really only a 5 person band, but they brought in other extremely talented musicians to play/sing the characters in their story. Shara Worden who plays the forest queen and Becky Stark who plays Margaret were so fun to watch because their voices portrayed their characters perfectly, one innocent and one ominous. It really was more like watching a rock opera than a concert and that is way more than I asked or hoped for. I immediately fell in love with not just the band, but an epic story. I will forever be thankful to them for making such picturesque music.
The Decemberists play at the University of Kentucky in October.
To watch a snippet of their Lollapalooza performance:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xw2jg7r5VtU
Tags: Lollapalooza 2009, Manchester Orchestra, Rock, Rock Opera, The Decemberists
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