This was my wife’s and my second time seeing the Decemberists. Last time at the Paramount, this time at one of the nicest outdoor venues in the Puget Sound area. Their opening guests were Blind Pilot and Andrew Bird, both of whom were extremely good in their own right.

The Decemberists were amazing. I appreciated the new music and the old favorites, but to me the best moment of the night was when they busted out the Heart cover “Crazy on You” with their two female vocalists dressed like Ann and Nancy Wilson. They rocked the song, and I loved seeing Colin belting out the backup vocals, his guitar held over his head. Love that guy.

The only downside of seeing a concert at Marymoor is that apparently people pay $35 + Ticketbastard fees to talk through the entire concert. Some young gay couple next to us were clearly courting and so they chatted and chattered all through. And then there were the three ditzy blondes making Blondetalk in front of us, and then the group of behind us yammering about the music and the song titles without actually listening. Sheesh! Finally the Mrs. and I went up front to dance and catch the music unmediated by the idiots.

They wrapped up the concert with “Sons and Daughters,” which is a great song to send everyone home with. It sticks in your head, and we sang it all the way home.

When we pulled up to The Paramount, there were people everywhere, excited, the energy was high.  My friends had the limo driver get out to open the doors for us ~ but before he did that he rolled out a red carpet for us to make our entrance to the show. For just a second, I was not a social worker in Seattle, I was a rock star too!

The show was amazing.  Even though I love the old Prince music from the 80’s, which he did not perform much of during this tour, it was great just to be in his presence, hear his guitar and watch him move.  I have the CD’s from that tour and the songs take me back to that “One Night Alone”.