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So i got a chance to check out a show I had been looking forward to since sometime back in November when I first got the tickets. The show was scheduled for January, but was postponed by the giant blizzard we had. The show was Colin Meloy of the Decemberists playing solo, with an opening act of Jake Brennan (of Jake Brennan and the Confidence Men) also playing solo at TT the Bear’s in Cambridge.

Jake Brennan - I had heard a lot about this guy and figured since he was opening for one of my favorite artists, that he must be solid. Apparently he has a decent following in Boston, but you wouldn’t know it based on the crowd’s complete lack of interest during his set. He sang crappy love songs with trite lyrics while the crowd literally had full conversations amongst each other, ignoring him on stage for the most part. The only saving grace was a mandolin player named Jimmy that accompanied him and helped bring intolerably crappy songs to a moderately listen-able level. Brennan looked and sounded like Ray Pruitt (Jamie Walters) and seemed seconds away from bursting into “How Do You Talk to an Angel” or bringing Donna Martin out on stage just to smack her around a bit. At least that would have been somewhat entertaining.

Colin Meloy - Playing the yin to Brennan’s yang was not difficult here, and Meloy raised the game to a completely different level when he took the stage. Those who had previously seen him perform live, fully expected this unassuming Montana boy with the incredibly powerful voice to take total command the room and leave the audience mesmerized and silent, which he did. All eyes and ears were fixated on the stage, and each person became fully absorbed into each intricate lyric and wandering storyline stirring only to stomp along with the beat or to join in on some of the more infectious refrains. Being the last stop on the tour, Meloy belted out somewhere in the neighborhood of 25 songs over an hour and a half covering everything from Decembrists favorites to Morrissey covers and even some random folk tunes in between. The only disappointment was not being able to get my hands on the 6 song, tour-only, Morrissey cover disc that he was peddling at each stop. Only 1,000 were pressed and they were only available on tour stops….unless you want to shell out upwards of $60 on eBay.