Hey, Billy Corgan! While you’re out there wailing and gnashing, tearing your shirt open and beating your breast, key stroking (and I do mean “stroking”) your own personal Articles of Confederation and squeezing every last drop of narrative drama out of your forced “Me vs. the Universe” archetype, some of your major-label contemporaries are actually managing to keep their careers fun! Imagine that! Let this be a lesson to you, Mr. Endisthebeginningistheend: a little lighthearted, postmodern cheek-tonguing can go a long way.
Just ask Colin Meloy and his Decemberists, who have just confirmed another performance on Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report for Monday, April 27. Fans no doubt recall that this will be the band’s first appearance on the show since 2006’s infamous “ShredDown,” in which [badass] Decemberists guitarist Chris Funk was dubiously “defeated” by a Colbert-devised run-in with the infamous Peter Frampton and his even-more-infamous talk box. There were bribes, there was senseless shredding, there was Rick Neilson... heck, there was even a healthy lampooning of pop music criticism. And while no specific challenges, call-outs, throw-downs, or insults have been volleyed by either side as of yet, you just know that something special has to be going down that’s going to make The Decemberists that much easier for the whole world to love (are you still listening, Billy?).
And what’s this? Not only is one of your peers keeping things light, but they’re also putting out records and touring on them? What a concept! The Decemberists have also announced the majority of dates for Phase Two of their “A Short Fazed Hovel” 2009 tour in support of their nerdily ambitious The Hazards of Love album (TMT Review). Tickets will go on sale to the public for newly announced headline concerts beginning Friday, April 17 at 10 AM ET. Full venue and ticketing information is available at The Decemberists’ website. On tour, The Decemberists will play two sets a night -- the first, a full performance of The Hazards of Love, and the second a melange of their older material. And just as before, Lavender Diamond’s Becky Stark and My Brightest Diamond’s Shara Worden will be joining the band on-stage to reprise their roles as... Margaret and... some sort of queen, I think, and... I don’t know... whoever else. But hey, a band doing stuff instead of talking about doing stuff? We’ll take it.
05.19.09 - Los Angeles, CA - Hollywood Palladium
05.20.09 - Oakland, CA - Fox Theatre
05.21.09 - Eugene, OR - McDonald Theater
05.23.09 - Quincy, WA - Sasquatch Festiva
05.24.09 - Missoula, MT - Wilma Theatre
05.26.09 - Denver, CO - Fillmore Auditorium
05.27.09 - Kansas City, MO - Uptown Theater
05.29.09 - Milwaukee, WI - Riverside Theater
05.31.09 - St. Louis, MO - The Pageant
06.01.09 - Columbus, OH - Lifestyle Communities Pavilion
06.03.09 - Atlanta, GA - Tabernacle
06.04.09 - Raleigh, NC - Memorial Auditorium
06.05.09 - Richmond, VA - The National
06.06.09 - Upper Darby, PA - Tower Theatre
06.08.09 - Baltimore, MD - Merriweather Post Pavilion
06.09.09 - Boston, MA - Bank of America Pavilion
06.10.09 - New York, NY - Radio City Music Hall
06.11-14.09 - Manchester, TN - Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival
06.20.09 - Minneapolis, MN - Rock the Garden/Walker Art Center
BREATHER
07.17.09 - Seattle, WA - Marymoor Park
07.18-19.09 - Portland, OR - Edgefield Winery
07.21-22.09 - Vancouver, BC - Vogue Theater
08.03.09 - Toronto, ON - Kool Haus
08.05.09 - Madison, WI - Orpheum Theater
08.08.09 - Indianapolis, IN - Murat Egyptian Room
08.10.09 - Louisville, KY - W.L. Lyons Brown Theater
08.11.09 - Detroit, MI - Royal Oak Theater