The Decemberists at Brooklyn Steel
photo by Amanda Hatfield

The Decemberists began their 3-night run at Brooklyn Steel with Julien Baker (pics, videos, setlist)

The Decemberists played the first of three show at Brooklyn Steel last night (4/17), the end of their tour with Julien Baker for the 10th anniversary of The Crane Wife (and part of the stacked lineup of shows scheduled for Brooklyn Steel’s first month). Their setlist, which you can see below, included songs from throughout their discography as well as a live debut: “The Queen of Hearts,” with Olivia Chaney on keyboard harpsichord. Like many shows in this run, including Saturday (4/15) at College Street Music Hall they played what Colin described as the “ugliest song” he’s ever written, “Odalisque,” fan favorites like “O Valencia!” and “Red Right Ankle,” and the politically timely “Everything is Awful,” before encoring with their proggy, 18-minute long, five-part epic, based in Irish folklore, “The Tain.” (Before this tour, they hadn’t played it live since 2011.) It wouldn’t be a Decemberists show without some fun onstage antics, too, and we got a guitar vs accordion showdown from Chris Funk and Jenny Conlee during “Chimbley Sweep.” Pictures from the set are in the gallery above, and some video clips are below.

Julien Baker opened the show with a short, beautiful set of favorites from her 2015 debut (one of our favorite albums of the year) Sprained Ankle, as well as some newer songs like “Funeral Pyre” and “Turn Out the Lights.” Her tour continues with High Water Festival this month, and more shows in May. She and The Decemberists will be reunited again in August at the inaugural Travelers’ Rest festival, which The Decemberists curated.

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SETLIST: The Decemberists @ Brooklyn Steel night 1, 4/17/2017
1. The Infanta
2. We Both Go Down Together
3. Shiny
4. Down by the Water
5. Till the Water’s All Long Gone
6. Odalisque
7. Red Right Ankle
8. Bandit Queen
9. The Queen of Hearts
10. Everything is Awful
11. The Crane Wife 1 & 2
12. The Crane Wife 3
13. The Wrong Year
14. Make You Better
15. O Valencia!
16. The Chimbley Sweep

Encore:
17. The Tain

Encore 2:
18. June Hymn