I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: July 22, 2025] The Decemberists 

We saw The Decemberists last year and it was pretty exciting that they announced a small summer tour (8 shows!) and one was in Bethlehem.  My last experience here at Wind Creek was abysmal.  We arrived much earlier tonight and the getting into the venue process wasn’t that terrible.

The previous show was fairly elaborate with a large cast on stage.  They opened with just Colin singing and then the rest of the band slowly coming out to make each song louder.

This time was completely different.  Drummer John Moen came out first and started a rousing drum beat.  Then the rest of the band came out and they launched into July, July! a perfectly apt song for the summer, and one that we hadn’t seen before (which is shocking).  Indeed, while not a rarities show per se, this show featured a lot of songs that we hadn’t seen before or, had only seen once.

I wondered if they’d play much from the new album–technically this is still the same tour (Peaceable Kingdom–their merch totes still said 2024).  They played three songs, Burial Ground which is always fun to hear live.  The other two songs were deep cuts from the new album and two that they hadn’t played live before this mini tour.

Rox in the Box is one of my wife’s favorite songs and she’s always a little bummed when they don’t play it.  But this time they did.  Before the show we talked to the people seated next to us (gasp, really? Yes!) and in discussing what songs they’d like to hear, my wife said Rox in the Box (check) and Make You Better (check).  We also discussed the new jamming version of Severed.  This version had Colin telling an off-the-cuff (clearly) story about the brown shirts in charge of this country being subsumed by the rust of steelstacks (or something).

After a second deep cut from As It Ever Was (which I thought sounded familiar but couldn’t place it), they played a superbly deep cut from an early album: The Bus Mall (something they do play from time to time, but which I’d never heard live).  It was followed by another new track for us, Oceanside, a fun song from their earliest EP.

They brought out Ron from Melt to sing The Queen’s Rebuke and she sounded fantastic!  I don’t know where she came from–Melt didn’t open the show and they are playing in Bethlehem in two days, but how did this magic pairing happen?  I have no idea.  I see they didn’t play it the previous night, so maybe Melt was just hanging around.  Because Ron stayed out for the next song and their guitarist came out and played too.  And that next song was a cover of Paranoid by Black Sabbath.  Not something you expect to hear at a Decemberists show.  However, Ozzy died earlier that day so it seemed a nice tribute.  Colin took the drums and John Moen sang.  He did a fairly decent Ozzy impression (getting everyone to clap and going crazeee), but hilariously he didn’t know the words at all.  How is that possible?

Everyone stood for this song–otherwise it was a seated show.  Colin said the seats must be very comfortable, since no one was standing

After Rusalka, a song I don’t really know very well (but I love the ending), Colin grabbed a harmonica and played a little Dirty Old Town before playing Down By the Water.   Then there were a few more songs–The Crane Wife pt 3 and A Beginning Song, which I see they ended with last time too.

For the encore, everyone rushed to the stage (Security didn’t mind).  We stayed put, but enjoyed a little more movement with the row emptied out.   He joked about a mosh pit and then proceeded to play the decidedly un-mosh worthy but lovely June Hymn.

He then introduced O Valencia and the crowd all sang along.  And they ended the set with I Was Meant for the Stage.  And for the first time that I’m aware of, Colin came out into the audience and sang directly to some people–he even put his arm around someone.  It was so much fun and really captured the looseness of this show.

As I said, last year’s show was very polished and perfect.  And this show seemed like it was just a lot of fun.  There was a lot of laughing on stage, a few moments where they seemed to be tripping each other up or just messing around.  It was loose and fantastic.  A great companion to last year’s show, with only 6 songs repeated.

Incidentally, they played Joan in the Garden as an encore last year and I loved it, but I assumed they would never do that again.  And they didn’t for us, so I’m really glad we got to see it.

And if Colin or anyone else in the band reads this, my wife really needs to hear songs from Florasongs (yes it’s a ten year old EP, but she loves it).

 

2025 Bethlehem	2024 Fillmore	2022 Met Philly
July, July! ©	Red Right Ankle Ψ [2]	The Crane Wife 3 Ö [3]
Burial Ground ‰ [3]	June Hymn ⊗ [2]	The Island: Come and See/The Landlord’s Daughter/You’ll Not Feel the Drowning Ö
Rox in the Box ⊗ [2]	All I Want is You ‰	Shiny Š (With Rusholme Ruffians by The Smiths outro) [2]
Tell Me What’s on Your Mind ‰	Don’t Carry It All ⊗	Burial Ground ‰
Make You Better ϖ [4]	Burial Ground ‰ [2]	Calamity Song ⊗ [2]
Severed ⇒ [3]	The Crane Wife 1  Ö [3]	Lake Song ϖ [2]
Don’t Go to the Woods ‰ (John down stage left with just a triangle)	The Sporting Life ∏ (ending had intro of This Charming Man)	Sucker’s Prayer ⇒
The Bus Mall ∏	The Queen’s Rebuke / The Crossing ♥ [2]	The Wanting Comes in Waves / Repaid ♥
Oceanside Š	Oh No! ‰	Severed ⇒
The Queen’s Rebuke / The Crossing ♥ [3] (Veronica Stewart-Frommer of Melt on vocals)	Long White Veil ‰	Down By the Water ⊗ [3]
Paranoid (Black Sabbath cover) (John Moen on vocals, Colin Meloy on drums and members of Melt joining on stage)	Make You Better ϖ [3]	16 Military Wives ∏ [2]
Rusalka, Rusalka / Wild Rushes ⇒ [2]	Severed ⇒ [2]	I Was Meant for the Stage Ψ
Down by the Water ⊗ [4] (Dirty Old Town intro on harmonica)	16 Military Wives ∏ [3]	Encore
The Crane Wife 3 Ö [4]	A Beginning Song ϖ [2]	Rusalka, Rusalka / Wild Rushes ⇒
A Beginning Song ϖ [3]	encore	Sons & Daughters Ö
encore	Joan in the Garden ‰
June Hymn ⊗ [3]
O Valencia! Ö [3]
I Was Meant for the Stage Ψ [2]

 

2017 Fillmore	2015 Academy of Music
The Crane Wife 1 & 2 Ö [2]	The Singer Addresses His Audience ϖ
The Crane Wife 3 Ö [2]	The Infanta ∏
Down By the Water ⊗ [2]	Calamity Song ⊗
Shiny Š	Rox in the Box ⊗
We Both Go Down Together ∏	Here I Dreamt I Was an Architect ©
The Wrong Year ϖ [2]	Make You Better ϖ
Make You Better ϖ [2]	The Wrong Year ϖ
Red Right Ankle Ψ	Carolina Low ϖ
Lake Song  ϖ	The Hazards of Love 1 (The Prettiest Whistles Won’t Wrestle the Thistles Undone) ♥
Everything is Awful ⇒	A Bower Scene ♥
We All Die Young ⇒	Won’t Want for Love (Margaret in the Taiga) ♥
The Abduction of Margaret ♥	The Rake’s Song ♥
The Queen’s Rebuke / The Crossing ♥	The Crane Wife 1 & 2 Ö
O Valencia! Ö [2]	The Crane Wife 3 Ö
The Chimbley Sweep Ψ	Down by the Water ⊗
encore	16 Military Wives ∏
The Tain ¥	O Valencia! Ö
encore 2	A Beginning Song ϖ
June Hymn ⊗	encore
	12/17/12 ϖ
	The Mariner’s Revenge Song ∏