The Decemberists

20TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION STREAMING SHOWS

It was with truly heavy hearts that we announced the cancellation of this summer’s tour. We really had hoped that we’d be able to play in front of you sweaty, singing thousands when we postponed the dates initially — and while there is every reason to believe that this pandemic may soon be a strange and bitter memory (yay vaccines! yay science!), it just isn’t wise to gather together in our sweaty, singing multitudes *quite* yet.And while we were keen to celebrate our twentieth — and then twenty-first — year in this world as a band called The Decemberists, it seemed somehow strange and ill-fated to once more kick the whole thing into 2022. You’ll remember there had been some dispute as to whether the band started in 2000 or 2001, so it didn’t seem so far-fetched to have it all go down in 2021. In 2002, however, there is no dispute that we had long been a band, with our names on t-shirts and CD booklets and everything. We were old hat in Portland, even, at that time. “Oh, The Decemberists,” I recall hearing a cynical record store clerk mutter to his co-worker after I’d dropped off a flyer in mid ’02, “They play all the time.”

So no: it’s time to move on, to better and stranger and newer things. Something will go down in summer 2022, but it will be the ushering in of a new era and not so much recognizing the eras that have passed.

BUT HAVE NO FEAR: In its place, we have decided to host a special celebration of our twenty or twenty one orbits ‘round the sun in a series of STREAMING CONCERTS! We’ve assembled a career-spanning setlist, the ups and the downs, the longs and the shorts, the quiets and the louds, and plan to perform them live over the course of three evenings, streamed directly into your living room, parlor, bunkhouse, or observatory. Announcing: TWENTY (OR TWENTY ONE) YEARS BEFORE THE MAST: THE INTERNET CONCERTS!

These will be three special shows, each with their own unique setlist that span our entire career, happening on April 11th, April 18th, and April 25th, each at 5 pm PDT. You’ll be able to get tickets for individual shows or for all three if you want the *complete experience*.

VIP packages will be available for the shows as well, which you can imagine as a sort of post-show hangout — through our screens. You’ll be able to chat with the band, ask us whatever burning questions you might have AND be privy to three extra songs we’ll have performed just for you.

But what about merch, you ask? If you’re replicating the in-concert experience down to the sticky, beer-stained floors, where’s the merch? O, have no fear: we have a t-shirts and event poster available to bundle with your tickets as well.

Again, thank you for being patient and understandable as all our touring plans pitched to and fro during the pandemic. This is as much a celebration about you, O Decemberist fan, O Youth and Beauty Brigadier, as it is about our two-decades of music.

We’re excited for this and the next chapter!

Yours,

The Decemberists