the decemberists w/ loch lomond//the wellmont theater//montclair.nj
pt. 2
We arrive at the newly opened Wellmont Theater, the Bowery Presents’ newest venue. Sure it’s in Jersey, but it’s quite a theater. Once a movie theater up until around the early 2000s, it sported a huge stage and a grand balcony. Bowery Presents ripped out the seating on the floor, leveled out the area, and poured in a huge, oddly lit bar in the back. The decor was downright Vaudeville; fancy ceiling and all. The opening band, Loch Lomond took stage. I didn’t quite know what to expect when they walked out with an acoustic guitar, clarinet, and a viola. Odd Sufjan… perhaps. The first song was very folky, and took me some time to get into, but by the second song I was swaying with the rest of the audience. A great band to open up for The Decemberists. They had a sound much like Fleet Foxes with the instrumentation of Efterklang. Very cool.
After a short break, The Decemberists took the stage. Colin Meloy walked, or rather stumbled, onstage with a glass of red wine in one hand and a beer in the other. His drunkenness shone throughout the entire set. His eccentric gestures were worsened by the alchohol, he forgot lyrics, chords, and fumbled a solo or two, but it really added to the whole experience of the show. The band finished with 16 Military Wives and a long call and answer of “Yes We Can and Yes We Did” (the show came a few days after Obama won the presidential race), that continued to be the encore chant. They didn’t play Mariner’s Revenge… I’m still bothered by that. All in all, it was a great show at a sublime, new venue.
