Music review Decemberists shrug off heat with a refreshing blast of cool

"It's hot tonight," Alice Cooper sang many summers ago. "Too hot for talking."

Fortunately, Saturday night in Salem didn't prove too hot for singing -- although at times it certainly felt that way. While temperatures outside soared above 90 and often felt equally as sticky inside, the Pavilion at the Oregon State Fairgrounds hosted a benefit for Pet Aid (with proceeds directed to animal care havens such as Dove Lewis Emergency Animal Hospital and Oregon Humane Society's "Second Chance" program) featuring performances from Portland major-label act the Decemberists, '80s college rock favorites the Violent Femmes and the Sacramento alt-rock quintet Cake.

From a venue standpoint, it's clear that the Pavilion's typical fare (monster truck races, rodeos, bridal shows) is a far cry from the complexity of hosting a sizable live music event and that its staff is undergoing a steep, rapid learning curve as a result. The building was accessible only to those who were already inside the fairgrounds -- meaning that most concertgoers were charged fair entry fees on top of their $25 ticket price, an unwelcome surprise to attendees.

Once inside, fans were treated to broiling-hot temperatures and long concession lines with inadequate or broken vending facilities, an avoidable turn of events considering that the benefit show was sold out several days in advance. Sound was inconsistent -- brutally loud at times, muffled at others -- and the building's fire alarm system malfunctioned at several points throughout the evening, interrupting the Violent Femmes' set.

All this said, the fair's array of sights, sounds and smells proved the perfectly surreal backdrop for the Decemberists, who seized on the carnival theme with unabashed enthusiasm.

Colin Meloy, the quintet's singer, songwriter and de facto leader, strolled onstage in a jaunty red-striped jacket and matching tie, dropping references to elephant ears into his between-song banter and quoting the Smiths' obscurity "Rusholme Ruffians" ("This is the last night of the fair, and the grease in the hair of a speedway operator is all a tremulous heart requires"). The band played an unrehearsed, exceedingly sloppy cover of the 1985 Outfield top-10 hit "Your Love," a song whose sole purpose was evidently to evoke ironic recognition from the audience, who lustily sang along while Meloy struck mock guitar-hero poses and keyboardist Jenny Conlee donned a foam trucker cap in tribute.

Meloy is the sort of literate fantasist who populates his songs with colorful characters drawn from throughout history: Chinese trapeze artists, dirty-faced barrow boys and French Legionnaires have all put in appearances over the course of the three albums and two EPs the band has released since forming in 2001, lending its melodic pop a dramatic, vividly imagined flair.

The group's rabidly enthusiastic following -- many of whom sang and danced to the band's set, producing an effect akin to that of a high school musical held hostage by its audience -- has netted it a major-label deal with Capitol, and a portion of the evening's set list centered on a trio of songs that will eventually form the pop core of "The Crane Wife," a conceptual song cycle due for release Oct. 3.

The Decemberists' hour-plus set was easily the highlight of the evening, eclipsing the retro-rock throwbacks put forth by the Violent Femmes and Cake, and nearly erasing the memory of a night otherwise spent furiously fanning the air in a desperate attempt to create respite from the heat.

Corey duBrowa is a Portland-based freelance music writer. You can reach him at coreydubrowa@hotmail.com.