These two shows have already been put up at archive.org, so you could go over there & download them and have something to listen to while you read this, not that this will take that long. Also, my pictures from both nights are on my website. I think the Wednesday ones turned out significantly better. And not to give too much away, but I felt that the Wednesday show was the better one in pretty much every way.

Not that the Tuesday show was a pile of crap or anything. Far from it. The Decemberists put on a mighty fine show. hobbitgrrl had lab that afternoon, so I went up early and got in line for us. Again, not a huge crowd showing up early, so I decided I wouldn't need to hurry the next night. After a bit hobbitgrrl arrived, and we went inside, where we had the inevitable discussion in which we agreed yet again that concert venues should serve food, because we're always hungry when we get in there. If only that tamale guy from the Hideout would make the rounds of all the rock clubs in Chicago.

Anyway, we were smack in the middle of the front row, which is always nice. The opener Cass McCombs came out very punctually. I didn't think they were that bad; particularly, I liked the way the lead singer played guitar. But the best part of their set was definitely when some of the Decemberists (Jenny, John & Nate) came out to join them on their last song. At one point the lead dude (Cass, I presume), pointed at Jenny to take a solo and the other guy in the band looked absolutely thrilled, which was rather cute.

I think actually that I liked the setlist better on this night (there were only 7 songs that they played at both shows). I was really happy to hear Los Angeles, I'm Yours, Shiny and Angel, Won't You Call Me, for example. But gee, everything sounded gorgeous and the band had great energy. One weird thing was that Petra was chewing gum for the entire show, even when she was singing. I didn't think you were supposed to do that.

The show went by really quickly—not a lot of hijinks. But it was a beautiful show and I was pretty psyched for the next night...

I got to the Metro somewhat later than I'd planned to on Wednesday since I stopped at the Apple store on the way up to get one of those new video iPods for wallacecat's birthday. So I wasn't sure I was going to be able to grab a good spot on the floor, and when I got inside the audience was indeed 2 or 3 people deep around the stage. I went over to stage right—I hadn't been able to see Jenny at all the previous night since she was hidden behind her bank of keyboards, so I'd decided I wanted to be over more to the side anyway—where the crowd was a bit thinner; now I was in the second row, but after a minute a security guy who'd been standing literally in the very last good spot at the end of the front row moved out of the way, and I moved in. It was like he'd been holding a place just for me. Yay! And I was now exactly in front of Jenny, so double yay!

As we waited, I and the couple next to me engaged in that time-honored pre-show activity: being annoyed by the people around us. I thankfully couldn't hear what it was that the people who were annoying the people next to me were saying, but the ones behind me, in the midst of approximately one million idiotic "your mom" jokes, were talking about somebody they knew who liked to have sex with cellos, except the girl pronounced it "kello." I just couldn't understand how somebody who has lived for presumably at least 18 years in an English-speaking country had never heard that word pronounced correctly before. Then the guy, who apparently was a creative writing major, started talking about his schoolwork, and I began to feel a strong desire to kill myself.

So I was pretty grateful when Cass McCombs came out. I found that even though I was way over on the side of the stage, the sound mix actually sounded better there than it had when I was in the middle the night before. Those three Decemberists came out for the last song again and I was very pleased with my spot in front of Jenny, because she is completely awesome and she bops around so adorably.

Okay. Dude! The Tain! I thought it was a great opener, and it's just so freaky cool to see Colin rocking out hard on an electric guitar. During the part that Petra sings (and she's got a lovely voice, gum or no), John came out from behind the drums for the melodica solo and Colin took his place. It really doesn't seem like it's 19 minutes long, and when they subsequently launched into the Infanta, there was still that giddy start-of-the-show adrenaline rush.

Colin was much chattier tonight. At one point he asked, rather diffidently, if they were entertaining us at all, and somebody yelled "You're adorable!" (Which was exactly what I was thinking.) And Colin said, "Awww!" And when it came time for him to play something solo, he asked if there were any requests. Somebody yelled Red Right Ankle really loudly, and Colin kinda wrinkled his nose, then said, apparently reluctantly, that he would do it (it turned out that it was actually written on the setlist though). But first he said, bashfully, that this song was dedicated to his "sweetheart" Carson, who had drawn the backdrop, and then, full of pride for her handiwork, requested the lights be turned full onto it so we could all see it better. What a cutie.

Meanwhile I'd been keeping my eye on Jenny. She rocks so hard, especially on the accordion. Also she had on this gorgeous skirt, in shades of purple, with some gold trim and embroidery. During a pause in the show I called out—I couldn't help myself—"Jenny, I love your skirt!" She laughed rather shyly and made an adorable "oh, stop it!" gesture with her hand, and I fell in love with her a little bit more.

They did a couple of songs where Petra played the tambourine, and before the second one she said, "Call me Tambourine Girl." Pause. "Not really." Colin looked at her significantly and asked, "Was that a joke?" Apparently they've been doing this thing where every time Petra makes a joke onstage she's punished by having to high-five the entire front row. And I guess she had made a joke, because she sighed and put down the tambourine and came over to high-five us. I put down my camera and raised up my hand, got my high-five and then picked the camera back up and took a couple of pictures. Later on Chris said something that was taken to be a joke and Colin asked if he would like to high-five the front row as well. And he did. Oh, those wacky Decemberists! But I did get to touch two of them.

On his way back from high-fiving the front row, Chris stopped to consult with Colin, showing him an ID he'd apparently picked up from somebody along the way. Colin studied it and remarked that the security hadn't been doing their job properly and that he was going to call somebody to have the underage possessor of the ID escorted out.

Things got pretty giddy toward the end. During A Cautionary Song John and Chris left the stage, only to turn up in the middle of the audience, banging drums and leaping around and generally being complete kooks. Colin started climbing on stuff and things started breaking and by the end of the show he'd dived headfirst into the drum kit.

Oh, man. A really fantastic show. As everybody was leaving the stage, Jenny started picking up all the setlists and handing them out. She came over to our side with one and I actually had my fingers on it—and then the guy next to me reached over my head and snatched it right out of my hand. Wow. That wasn't very polite. But I figured it was karmic payback for when I slapped that guy in St Louis in July, so I didn't get upset. Besides, when Jenny came back onstage to get her hoodie that she'd left behind, she smiled at me and waved goodbye, and that's better than any old setlist.

Nonetheless, I headed back toward the soundboard to try my luck there. I'd been unsuccessful in this attempt the previous night; tonight the guy remembered me and asked, "You wanted one last night, didn't you?" I said yes, my heart full of hope, and was rewarded when he declared, "Well, you get one tonight" and handed it over with a benevolent smile. Aww! I think I even got the original, because you can see that the delightfully primitive drawing of an elephant (with what I assume is an infanta in a palanquin on its back) bleeds through the paper.

So, hurrah! Just about a perfect evening all around. Out on the sidewalk I stopped to chat with izzat, and he gave me a snowglobe, thus causing me to repeatedly punch an innocent passerby. (I can't explain it. You ask him for one next time you see him, and tell him I sent you.)

Anyway, as I say, these shows are now up on archive.org (along with several others). I haven't heard the one of the 18th that's on there (I grabbed a different version of that one from dimeadozen.org), but the one from the 19th sounds absolutely amazing. Well worth the download. And go see them yourself the next time they're in town.