The Decemberists opened their Hazards of Love tour at Royce Hall Monday night, a show completely separate from UCLA events and happenings. I can hands down say it was the best concert that I have been to; my eyes were dry from lack of blinking.

For those of you that don’t know, The Hazards of Love is the Decemberists fifth album in the style of a rock opera. Musically, the music is definitely more rock-ish than former Decemberists stuff, and Colin Meloy employs full use of percussion in many of the songs. The full album is approximately one hour in length with seventeen songs, and each song flows into the next without stopping.  The songs contribute to a unified narrative, similar to the use of recurring stories in their album, The Crane Wife. The Hazards of Love has reoccurring characters, including the protagonist (William), his love (Margaret), an evil queen and the Rake. The Decemberists added two women to their ensemble to voice Margaret and the Queen (both dressed in costume during the show), and the reoccurring characters have kind of their own theme songs. In the story of The Hazards of Love, William is essentially a cursed man, living as a deer by day and a man at night. He falls in love with Margaret, who becomes the damsel in distress, awaiting rescue. Like most Decemberists songs, it is a tragic love-story told with an old English style.

To go along with the rock opera, Colin Meloy and The Decemberists hired animators to make a film that would parallel the story in The Hazards of Love. I thought that the animations would follow more closely to the story line, however they were much more abstract. I would say the animation was a mix between Fantasia, visualizes, and fantasy computer game animation. The animators showed talent in using different techniques and styles of animation, everything from computer graphics to rough sketches.

After playing The Hazards of Love, there was a fifteen-minute intermission, followed by a 35 minute set of their older songs. Songs played included “The Sporting Life” and “O Valencia!” Colin Meloy even got some audience participation in which the crowd was split into thirds and we each sung a part of the backup vocals. Comedic moments included a jamming session on-stage with his lead guitarist Chris Funk, and impromptu dancing between member Jenny Conlee and drummer John Moen.

Overall, I was very impressed with the show. Not only because of the stunning visuals and amazing music, but the entire performance. Another plus was the fact that Royce Hall has such amazing acoustics and sound system. This made the Decemberists seem even better, if possible. The Decemberists play next on October 24 in Portland, Oregon.

–Eleanor Hurtt
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