Pitchfork

Photo by Matt Jordan

From the multipart song suites to their fondness for esoteric foreign folktales, Colin Meloy and his Decemberists don't exactly shy away from the grandiose. So it's fitting that tonight, at one of the more splendorous musical locales the world over-- the Hollywood Bowl-- the Decemberists will perform with symphonic accompaniment in the first of a series of orchestral shows. Hey, it worked wonders for Metallica, and that was way more incongruous than this! Bonus for you svelte young Hollywood types: tonight's show comes complete with Band of Horses and orchestra-of-one Andrew Bird.

In other Decemberists news, there's an unreleased Colin Meloy demo you can get for practically nothing on that PDX Pop Now! comp, and Chris Funk's Flash Hawk Parlor Ensemble's debut release Plastic Bag in the Tree is out now. There are quite a few regular old Decemberists shows for you starting in September too, as the theatrical troupe heads to Europe for a month or so; all that and more after the jump. And by "more," I mean some lovely little asterisks.

Decemberists:

07-07 Hollywood, CA - Hollywood Bowl (orchestral show) *
07-13 Atlanta, GA - Chastain Park (orchestral show)
07-14 Columbia, MD - Merriweather Post Pavilion (orchestral show)
07-15 Philadelphia, PA - Mann Center (orchestral show)
07-16 New York, NY - Central Park Summerstage ^
07-18 Chicago, IL - Pritzker Pavilion (Millennium Park) (orchestral show)
07-22 Portland, OR - Edgefield Winery $
09-14 Morrison, CO - Red Rocks Amphitheatre (Monolith Festival)
09-16 Austin, TX - Zilker Park (Austin City Limits Festival)
09-22 Amsterdam, Netherlands - Paradiso
09-23 Cologne, Germany - Live Music Hall
09-24 Frankfurt, Germany - Batschkapp
09-25 Karlsruhe, Germany - Substage
09-27 Vienna, Austria - Arena
09-28 Munich, Germany - Muffathalle
09-29 Berlin, Germany - Postbahnhof
09-30 Hamburg, Germany - Grosse Freiheit
10-02 London, England - Royal Festival Hall
10-03 Cambridge, England - Junction
10-05 Wolverhampton, England - Wulfrun Hall
10-06 Bristol, England - Anson Rooms
10-07 Oxford, England - Academy
10-09 Dublin, Ireland - Vicar Street
10-10 Liverpool, England - Academy
10-11 Newcastle, England - Academy
10-12 Glasgow, Scotland - Academy
10-13 Leeds, England - Metropolitan University

* with Band of Horses, Andrew Bird
^ with Grizzly Bear, Land of Talk
$ with Menomena