The Decemberists, Vicar Street, Dublin

“The world faces no shortage of hyper-literate American songwriters fashioning their book-learnin’ into ambitious, whimsical folk-pop, but few can spin a yarn or hone a melody as persuasively as the Decemberists’ Colin Meloy.”

And so we headed down south this weekend to catch the fantastic Decemberists. Originally scheduled to play a smaller venue, the band was shunted to the larger Vicar Street venue.

By the time we arrived the place was packed in like sardines and after a quirky announcement, the band took to the stage - perfect timing!

They launched straight into 'Crane Wife pt. III' from the similarly named latest album and the crowd behind them except for a few which falls under the banner of Pet-hates, subsection 'Live gigs', #1: 'People who pay to see a band but spend the whole time talking to their friends beside them and annoying the hell out of everyone else'.

Tried as we might, we couldn't push forward through the tight crowd and ended up halfway down on the right side as the band continued into 'We Both Go Down Together'.

It was a great gig despite the back-breaking position where we were standing which was also the thoroughfare for the bar and the rude expectation of people expecting you to somehow move out of the way when there was clearly nowhere to move. A larger venue would have been great.

Frontman Colin Meloy didn't say much to the crowd throughout the gig although at the end he managed to split the crowd into 3 sections to power into the chorus of several songs - the balcony faring worse and getting boo-ed by the rest of us!

In retrospect, it was an enjoyable gig which could have been truly memorable if we could have wormed closer to the front but I would certainly venture down to see them again despite their being an audience in Belfast to easily fill several venues.

Here's some more videos of the gig.