Shit. I had to leave early, didn't I?

I thought the show last night was stellar. Very pleased with the sets for both The Decemberists and DCFC (missed stars, bummer). Said it before and I'll say it again, the summerstage is possibly NYC's best venue. GREAT sound/mix and not a bad seat in the house. And how perfect was the weather last night???

Agreed that Death Cab was great, but I thought the mix was terrible for Stars and not too good for Decemberists. After missing Star in prospect park and loving their album, i was really looking forward to seeing them. However, they just don't seem to be a good live act. Death Cab & Decemberists both killed them in terms of stage presence and energy. Shame since they have a good batch of songs to tour

What, no tongue?

Seriously???? I thought the mix for Decemberists was near perfect. I could hear every instument clearly and distinctly, including Colin's vocals.

Decemberists sound was terrible last night. Well it got better towards the end, but at the beginning it was pretty bad.

The beginning of the Decemberists set was so low. After the Stars technical problems, I figured they turned the volume waaaaay down. Eventually they cranked it back up by the end.

Yeah, I always get a little quesy when I see rock stars doing that two-singers-one-mike thing. Aren't they basically just showering spit into each other's mouths?

I thought the show was pretty good, though Death Cab took some time to warm up. But The Decembrist's sound mix was definately inferior, at least from where I was sitting. You really have to be directly in front of the stage to get the good mix at Summerstage.

I agree. I could barely hear Colin Meloy's vocal or Petra's violin at all during the first 2 or so songs; but by the end, the sound got better. DCFC was pretty lackluster compared to Decemberists, but I was expecting that. Loooved the Fleetwood Mac cover though...

Chris, If you're wondering what I thought was off with the mix:
Stars: drums sounded real bad (esp the bass drum) and the Bass was non-existant
Decemberists: Bass drum again was off, and sounded like they were trying to move the levels of guitars around when someone was leading the melody, but they were delayed with timing and over-compensating with their adjustments.

Chris, If you're wondering what I thought was off with the mix:
Stars: drums sounded real bad (esp the bass drum) and the Bass was non-existant
Decemberists: Bass drum again was off, and sounded like they were trying to move the levels of guitars around when someone was leading the melody, but they were delayed with timing and over-compensating with their adjustments.

damn OC crowd was out in force last night

HOLLISTER!!!!!

*pukes*

I was standing on Ben's side of the stage (left), halfway back, so maybe where I was had something to do with it.

In the Stars' defense: Caught them at Southpaw and they were amazingly energetic, sounded great, and were obviously having a lot of fun - definitely one of the better shows I've seen this year. This might be way off base, but a lot of indie bands just don't seem to be built and/or prepared for such large venues.

"In the Stars' defense: Caught them at Southpaw and they were amazingly energetic, sounded great, and were obviously having a lot of fun - definitely one of the better shows I've seen this year." - sums up my opinion of their performance at bowery

am I the only one who noticed the bad sound in the first part of death cab's set? too-loud vocals does not equal good sound. it balanced out more towards the end.

agreed, it was totally an OC crowd. but the beauteous music trumped that.

wasn't too excited about the 4000 16 year old girls smoking pot and drinking next to me.....but short of that, great show. these days, i dont expect to see many people my age and older at a death cab show. my primary reason for going was to see the decemberists, it was a big treat to see them both play together!

colin looks realllly good in that pic