I am as tired of hearing about SXSW as you are but there was one main attraction that I would liked to have seen and that was the debut of The Decemberists new album Hazards of Love. Wednesday night at Stubb’s Bar-B-Q The Decemberists unveiled their 17 part prog opera in it’s entirety. Originally Meloy had planned on having each band member dress up in the characters they were playing but opted out in the end. There are special guest appearances by Becky Stark of Lavender Diamond and Shara Worden of My Brightest Diamond to play Margaret (the main female character) and the queen and of course Meloy plays the lead male, William, and the narrator.

I’ve listened to the concert all the way through while at work but was unable to give much attention to the lyrics and story line. So I’m afraid that I can’t really give an accurate review of the album at this time. I can tell you that the audio is great for a live show.

You can stream the entire concert here.