I went to go see The Decemberists last night, on a week night and all the way over in Lawrence (about an hour away). It wasn’t fun dragging myself out of bed for work this morning, but it was totally worth it. I ♥ The Decemberists. They played at the Jackpot Saloon, a small new venue which is unfortunately crammed into a storefront on the main “college town” street in Lawrence. It was packed, and if I’d gotten there any later than I did I wouldn’t have been able to see the stage at all. Norfolk and Western opened up, and they were pretty good but I didn’t really get into it that much. Once The Decemberists took the stage though, the place just livened up. They played an awesome set, though unfortunately too short and they didn’t play quite a few of my favorite songs. However, I like so many of their songs that they could have played their entire discography through twice and I still would have been just mostly satisfied. They did come back and do one song for an encore, a cover of The Smith’s “Ask Me” which certainly didn’t lose them any points with me. Smith’s covers may be a little cliche, but I sure never get tired of them. I managed to stay awake while driving home too, which I thought was a nice bonus.