Damn those wiley Decemberists! Colin Meloy and his cronies just keep finding ways, against all odds, to extend the shelf-life of their, umm, ambitious song-cycle The Hazards of Love (TMT Review). This time, the big idea is to squeeze a little extra drama out of the tangled and vaguely literary web of lovers and fawns and rakes and forest queens and rivers and ghosts and whatever else, by performing the album live in its entirety in sync with an original animated film. Actually, now that I think about it, we all knew this announcement was coming, didn’t we?
Anyway, all of this will go down on October 19 at UCLA’s Royce Hall in Los Angeles, which is not coincidentally the band’s last U.S. performance on their never-ending “A Short Fazed Hovel” Tour. Here Come The Waves: The Hazards of Love Visualized, as the project is called, will feature the work of four filmmakers -- Guilherme Marcondes, Julia Pott, Peter Sluszka, and Santa Maria -- each of whom have created their own animation to accompany a portion of the band’s proggy, windchime-stroking, pysch-folk jams. The Decemberists will perform the entire record synchronized with the animation, as well as (yes!) an additional second set of older and newer material (come ooooooon, “Mariner’s Revenge Song!”). Presented in association with global film/art/event hub Flux, the whole shebang is also, commendably, a benefit for The Grammy Foundation’s Grammy in the Schools music education programs for high school students. That’s nothing to get your hovel out of faze at!
Tickets will go on sale for this "happening" tomorrow, and the band will also kick off the final leg of their “A Short Fazed Hovel” tour... tomorrow. I have a feeling that this might be the last gasp for all of their Hazards of Love touring, so now’s probably your last chance to catch this spectacle and use it as a “performance credit” for your college Musical Theater courses.
“A Short Fazed Hovel” tour keeps chugging:
09.18.09 - Orono, ME - University of Maine
09.19.09 - New York, NY - Terminal 5
09.20.09 - Burlington, VT - Flynn Theater
09.21.09 - Montclair, NJ - Wellmont Theater
09.23.09 - Norfolk, VA - The Norva
09.24.09 - Charlottesville, VA - Charlottesville Pavilion
09.25.09 - Asheville, NC - Thomas Wolfe Auditorium
09.26.09 - Athens, GA - The Classic Center
09.27.09 - Nashville, TN - Ryman Auditorium
09.29.09 - St. Augustine, FL - St. Augustine Amphitheater
09.30.09 - Orlando, FL - Hard Rock Live
10.02.09 - Houston, TX - House of Blues
10.03.09 - Austin, TX - Austin City Limits Music Festival
10.04.09 - Tulsa, OK - Cain's Ballroom
10.06.09 - Lexington, KY - University of Kentucky, Lexington
10.07.09 - Columbia, MO - Ninth St. Fall Fest
10.08.09 - Chicago, IL - Riviera Theatre
10.09.09 - Minneapolis, MN - State Theatre
10.18.09 - San Francisco, CA - Treasure Island Music Festival
10.19.09 - Los Angeles, CA - UCLA Royce Hall
11.18.09 - London, UK - Forum
11.19.09 - London, UK - Coronet
11.21.09 - The Hague, Netherlands - Crossing Border Festival