Pitchfork

Contrary to the beliefs of physicists everywhere, there is at least one perpetual motion machine, and it's name is the Decemberists. Between recipe blogs (John Moen's "The Gallery Chef"), contests, Crane Wife videos and supplementary releases, and more tour dates than words in Colin Meloy's vocabulary, Portland's finest have never been busier.

And the Decemberists keep going. Their calendar just filled up again with the announcement of even more tour dates. After their "Twilight in the Fearful Forest" tour winds down in time for Bonnaroo, they will pick back up again in the U.S. with a handful of summer shows in a tour called "A Bit of Grass-Stain Does Not a Ruined Pair of Jeans Make". Then in the fall, they will head to Europe for a month of dates under the banner of the "A Great Smiting of Chavs" tour, finally revealing Meloy's cripplingly compulsive tendency to name everything.

The band's summer shows are a little different, however, as they will get the orchestral treatment in five cities. The first is at a previously reported show in Hollywood on July 7, but there are also stops in Atlanta, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Chicago.

At the Chicago show, the Decemberists will take the stage of the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park with the 82 members of the Grant Park Orchestra as part of the Grant Park Music Festival (Millennium Park is kind of a sub-set of Grant Park). The concert will be free, and it is sponsored in part by Chicago venue the Metro, in celebration of its 25th anniversary. Sean O'Loughlin will arrange the Decemberists' songs for the orchestra, and he will also conduct the concert. In the past, he has worked with Belle and Sebastian, Nickel Creek, and the Blue Man Group. And oh what we wouldn't give to see the Decemberists in blue-face.

The Decemberists' "Twilight" tour continues tonight in Madison.

Dates:

04-20 Madison, WI - Orpheum Theater #
04-21 Kansas City, MO - Uptown Theater #
04-22 Denver, CO - Fillmore Auditorium #
04-25 San Francisco, CA - Warfield Theater #
04-26 San Francisco, CA - Warfield heater #
04-27 Las Vegas, NV - House of Blues
04-28 Indio, CA - Empire Polo Field (Coachella)
05-03 Eugene, OR - McDonald Theater #
05-04 Seattle, WA - Paramount Theater #
05-05 Bellingham, WA - Western Washington University #
06-17 Manchester, TN - Bonnaroo
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 $
09-22 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 My Brightest Diamond
* with Band of Horses
^ with Grizzly Bear, Land of Talk
$ with Menomena