Swallowed by a whale

Warning to everyone out there:

If you go to see the Decemberists prepare for a fantasticly inventive band on rousing top form but beware where you go to see them.

We went to see them this week at the Coronet Theatre in Elephant and Castle. The previous night they had been in Kentish Town and we made the fateful decision not to venture into North London, but to slip south of the river. BIG mistake. The Coronet theatre is a dump with repressive and totally unnecessary security, even on the balcony where it was unbelievably innefuctual. The sound is crap and the beer VERY over priced. With the exception of indigo2 to see Aimee Mann it's been nearly 30 years since I queued more than a couple of minutes to get into a venue and even at the O2 the goons are less interested in what you've got in your pockets than making the queues go in pretty lines.

In the pub before hand I paid £6-30 for a round of drinks for 4. In the venue, the same round was £16! How the hell do you justify that? Tickets for the band were about average price at £18:50 each, so the beer isn't subsidising the entry. I won't go on about the sound: It may have been better downstairs as the house p.a. was aimed in that direction, but listening to the soundman chasing the levels all night to the point where vocals were lost, the Zylophone (Jenny Conlee) was inaudible and Chris Funk's guitar levels were all over the place was irritating to say the least.

However, the band themselves were obviously on form, playing The Hazards of Love from start to finish in one set and then selections from 5 songs, Picaresque and The Crane Wife in a second. They finished with TheMariner's Revenge Song which is fast becoming a signature ending (Not exactly Meet on the Ledge, but you get the picture) and as for the whale itself......you'll have to go and see them to find out, just make sure its not at the Coronet Theatre.