Kevin Bronson on March 25th, 2018

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Fans’ devotion to the Decemberists — and their love for the band’s new album “I’ll Be Your Girl” — was no more evident that Thursday night in Pomona, when a good number of them stood in the rain so they could get prime spots for the Portland band’s concert.

The Decemberists did not disappoint, mixing a handful of songs from that new album, their eighth, with catalog favorites on a night that was heavy on audience participation, right down to the cover of “Ben Franklin’s Song” (written by Hamilton creator/star Lin-Manuel Miranda), when the crowd sang along fervently to the most unexpected lyrics (“Do you know who the fuck I am? / I am Poor-Richard’s-Almanac-writing Benjamin Fuckin Franklin”).

Many of the fans were already familiar with new songs such as “Everything is Awful,” “Sucker’s Prayer,” “We All Die Young” and “I’ll Be Your Girl’s” title track. And singer Colin Meloy led a sing-a-long of “la-di-da-di-da’s” during “16 Military Wives,” goading the balcony to be louder and quicker “I need you to be like .5 seconds faster!,” and after a few refrains joking, “Eh, still not great!”

The grand finale, “The Mariner’s Revenge Song,” also encouraged audience participation to scream like they were being swallowed by a giant whale on cue, at which point during the song a giant inflatable, tattooed whale was ushered out on stage and through the crowd to both the band and crowd’s delight.

Setlist: Everything is Awful, Your Ghost, Cutting Stone, Calamity Song, Make You Better, The Bagman’s Gambit, Leslie Anne Levine, Severed, Sucker’s Prayer, We All Die Young, Rox In The Box / Blackleg Miner, 16 Military Wives, Once In My Life. Encore: Ben Franklin’s Song, Rusalka, Rusalka / The Wild Rushes, I’ll Be Your Girl, The Mariner’s Revenge Song

Photos by Samantha Saturday