When I saw Yuck play at The Sinclair in January 2014, I decided to spoil the surprise of whether or not the opener would be any good and looked them up beforehand. The then-pretty unknown (maybe still somewhat unknown) Canadian outfit Alvvays had their song "Adult Diversion" on their inconspicuous Soundcloud page. I scoffed at the name, pressed play, and was immediately delighted: energetic, jangly indie pop with a self-effacing demeanor and understated delivery. The band impressed me just as much live and played many more great songs, compelling me to pick up their self-titled album--then available only on self-released cassette, without even a digital download. It was a (very) soft release while the band hustled to find a label. Not long after, Polyvinyl swooped them up; suddenly the band was getting praise from Rolling Stone, covered by Ben Gibbard, and hitting #1 on college radio charts.

So it wasn't terribly surprising to see them get a big tour like this one--the Decemberists' first full routing in support of their recent effort, What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World. Here it was the first of a two-night stand at House of Blues. Alvvays came on stage a little before 8:00 to polite applause and launched into the punky, buzzsawing "Yer Type." They had a noticeable visual component that I don't think was intentional; guitarist Phil MacIsaac and keyboardist Kerri MacLellan flanked the stage wearing black-and-white-striped shirts (also, MacLellan kinda looks like a young Joyce Brabner). Regardless, it was all about the sprightly, absurdly catchy tunes they played, with cool little changes throughout, like turning up the reverb for "Ones Who Love You" or getting noisy with the chorus of closer "Archie, Marry Me". They also bantered with the crowd well, with vocalist/guitarist Molly Rankin cracking a Good Friday joke after "Next of Kin", acknowledging one of the very few fans in the audience visibly singing along after a new tune they played and dedicating the next one to him, and asking how the Bruins were doing in the playoffs (which haven't started yet). That resulted in an amusing exchange where Rankin stressed "I'm not a Habs fan," which prompted a compulsive "Fuck the Leafs!" from one person, which she then prodded at by concluding, "I could be a Leafs fan." Speaking of that new song, though, it was good--more prominent synth and a "stay what you are" refrain. Despite the truncated half-hour set, they got through most of that excellent self-titled record, plus that new one and opener "Yer Type" (I have no idea what the deal is with this song, but there's a bunch of live videos online of them playing it). The largely unfamiliar crowd was creepily stoic throughout the set, but the feedback (post-song applause and cheers; eavesdropping on their comments afterwards) seemed good.

Set list (7:58-8:29):

1. Yer Type
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2. Next of Kin
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3. Ones Who Love You
4. Atop a Cake
5. new song [probably titled "New Haircut"]
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6. Dives
7. Adult Diversion
8. Party Police
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9. Archie, Marry Me

The Decemberists (well, just frontman Colin Meloy at first) came onto stage in the dark with some old-timey intro playing, naturally, and Meloy ushered things in with the "The Singer Addresses His Audience", a meta-ish opener from their most recent album that the band seemingly wrote as a great set opener. Meloy's voice was right on point, too (as was the strangely spot-on impressionist singing along behind me for most of the set; at least he was also in key). The rest of the band came out midway through the song to play their part and truly begin the set. From there, it was quite the experience; though I was close enough to the stage to get an intimate feel, it definitely more like a concert, from the huge die-cut backdrop to Meloy instagating all sorts of crowd participation throughout (different sections of the venue getting assigned clapping rhythms; extended bridges and refrains; the whole nine, really), to the full two hours they played.

I don't think I've seen a headlining set go on that long in a (mostly) standing-room venue for quite a while. I'll always want for way more from 2005's high point, Picaresque (the record that got me into the band a full decade ago now), but the set was pretty good considering, and Beautiful World has enough highlights ("Cavalry Captain", "The Wrong Year", etc.) to make for a very solid set list (my attention drifted a bit during the proggy, epic 15-minute multi-part suite from The Hazards of Love, granted).

Meloy's crowd interaction and control wasn't limited to claps and encouraged hoots and hollers and various volumic levels of singing along, as he offered a "7th inning stretch"-type exercise for the audience by encouraging them to bend their knees after "The Island". He also kept mentioning how excited the band were to be in Boston for the first time in four years. Does dude just not regard Boston Calling 2014 (less than a year ago, in fact) as a live appearance at all?

When they brought out a huge papier-mâché whale for final act "The Mariner's Revenge Song", which swallowed up the whole band while the audience (as previously instructed) screamed as though they were being swallowed by such a whale as well, the goofiness might have all been a little much for me. But at least Meloy did seem to laugh at the absurdity of it all at one point. It was a little self-awareness I could least get behind.

Set list (9:00-10:38):

1. The Singer Addresses His Audience
2. Cavalry Captain
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3. Down by the Water
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4. Hank, Eat Your Oatmeal/Calamity Song
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5. Grace Cathedral Hill
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6. Anti-Summersong
7. Make You Better
8. The Wrong Year
9. The Island
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10. Los Angeles, I'm Yours
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11. Carolina Low
12. The Hazards of Love 1 (The Prettiest Whistles Won't Wrestle the Thistles Undone)
13. A Bower Scene
14. Won't Want for Love (Margaret in the Taiga)
15. The Rake's Song
16. 16 Military Wives
17. Dracula's Daughter/O Valencia!
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18. A Beginning Song
    Encore (10:39-10:58):
19. Do You Remember Walter? [The Kinks cover--live debut]
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20. The Mariner's Revenge Song