Benefit for Beth Ditto of the Gossip

Beth Ditto is one of the awesomest, sassiest frontladies in rock. This show was to raise funds to help pay for her emergency gall bladder surgery - a very worthy cause. The show was at the Doug Fir, one of Portland's newer venues, with faux-timber walls and a large hipster clientele, who fortunately were less annoying than usual on this occasion.

I arrived too late to see the first band, Die Monitr Bats, so I never figured out whether that's "die" as in "cease to live" or "die" as in the German feminine article. Never mind. The next act was Sarah Dougher, who's one of those artists whose name I'd heard a lot, especially since I moved to Portland five years ago, but I'd never heard her music. She turned out to be a fairly competent folk-rock singer with a strong voice and a really cool guitar (an orange Epiphone hollow-body with a single cutaway, for you gearheads). She wasn't really doing anything new, but she did it well, and told a cool story about Beth Ditto chewing out the British press for making fun of the size of Missy Elliott's ass.

So then it was time for the main attraction - the Decemberists, playing their last show in Portland before embarking on their fall tour. After a long wait, John Moen came onstage and began thundering out the intro to "The Infanta." This is the first time I've gotten a good look at him, and without his indie-rock glasses, he looks kinda like a burlier version of Nels Cline. This is a good thing. The rest of the band soon followed, along with a four-person horn section (two saxes, two trumpets) and the rockitude began. The band was obviously in high spirits and the set was punctuated by a lot of goofing around, rambling monologues, and general shenanigans. Colin decried the pathetic state of healthcare coverage in the U.S., and a very excited Jenny interrupted his speech to announce that she'd gotten her stolen accordion back. Apparently they'd found a bunch of their nicked gear at Portland Music Company. Don't shop there.

The setlist was a mix of songs from all of their albums, plus several covers. I had been thinking at the beginning of the show that I'd never heard "Angel, Won't You Call Me?" (one of my favorite Decemberists songs) performed live, and to my delight, they played it - a "countrified" version, said Colin. Another highlight was Petra's solo rendering of Fairport Convention's "Tam Lin," which she was very nervous about but pulled off splendidly. She did hippie-style "noodle dances" during the instrumental breaks. Crutchy played the hammer dulcimer dramatically during "For My Own True Love" and everyone sang along with "16 Military Wives." "I Was Meant for the Stage" culminated with the usual complete chaos, and then it got even more ridiculous as the band covered an ELO song and Colin jumped into the audience and sat down on the floor to tell everyone the tale of Jeff Lynne and his band with two cellos. (Meanwhile, Nate was playing his bass lying on his back.) The last song was the Outfield's classic "Your Love," sung by Crutchy in a falsetto. Colin came out to the edge of the stage, directly in front of me, to solo - I stepped back in alarm, thinking he was going to stagedive, but fortunately he didn't. Eventually Nate was standing on top of his upright bass, Petra appeared to be trying to save her violin from being stepped on, and Colin had blood all over his fingers, presumably from his intense rocking out.

Apart from that, nobody was hurt and everyone went home happy, including me. In fact, I've seen the Decemberists six times now and this was definitely the best show of the lot. Since all proceeds from the show went to Beth Ditto, hopefully she now has a tidy lump of cash to pay for her surgery - or maybe one or two stitches, considering how expensive this stuff is. In conclusion, please support universal healthcare. The end.