The Hazards of Love
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
I Could Feel My Heartbeat Taking Me Down
I was having trouble writing a memoir piece in my creative writing class in high school. I knew what I wanted to write about, but it was about an unpleasant experience so I was scared. I remember my professor Andrea Dinan told me that if I couldn’t be painfully honest when writing something it wasn’t worth writing about. Very few artists truly write that way. Unprotected. They tend to write in generalities, but they can’t lay it all out on the table. Manchester Orchestra has a song called I Can Feel A Hot One that grabbed me the very second I heard it. It paints such a heartbreaking picture and you can see this story unfold right in front of your eyes as you listen. Not just this song alone, but many of their songs are captivating. And not only are the lyrics captivating, but the music is fantastic. Their songs are so diverse in style that I think anyone who listens to their music could like it. Read the lyrics below and then listen to the song. They are one band I don’t want to forget because, to be honest, they rock my world.
If you are in Chicago August 7th, 8th or 9th check them out at Lollapalooza. I’ll see you there!
www.myspace.com/manchesterorchestra
www.themanchesterorchestra.com/us/home
I CAN FEEL A HOT ONE – Manchester Orchestra
I could feel a hot one taking me down
For a moment, I could feel the force
Fainted to the point of tears
And you were holding on to make a point
What’s the point?
I’m but a clean man, stable and alone man
Make it so I won’t have to try
The faces always stay the same
So I face the fact that I’m just fine
I said that I’m just fine
I remember, head down,
After you had found out
Manna is a hell of a drug
And I need a little more, I think
Because enough is never quite enough
What’s enough?
I took it like a grown man crying on the pavement
Hoping you would show your face
But I haven’t heard a thing you’ve said
In at least a couple hundred days
What’d you say?
I was in the front seat, shaking it out
And I was asking if you felt alright
I never want to hear the truth
I want to hear your voice, it sounded fine
My voice, it sounded fine
I could feel my heartbeat taking me down
And for the moment, I would sleep alright
Invading with a selfish fear
To keep me up another restless night
Another restless night
The blood was dry, it was sober
The feeling of audible cracks
And I could tell it was over
From the curtains that hung from your neck
And I realized that then you were perfect
And my teeth ripping out of my head
And it looked like a painting I once knew
Back when my thoughts weren’t entirely intact
To pray for what I thought were angels
Ended up being ambulances
And the Lord showed me dreams of my daughter
She was crying inside your stomach
And I felt love again
*Heard on One Tree Hill (as always)
Tags: Lollapalooza, Manchester Orchestra, One Tree Hill, Rock
