Choose Your Own Adventure

So time-warp folk darlings The Decemberists have announced their upcoming fall tour, which caused the several thousand flannel wearing folk-rockers who cried late at night listening to "Picaresque" to simultaneously pee their girl pants.

Aside from that disturbing visual, they have average music dorks totally geeked out on an actual concept tour, which they are titling "The Long and Short of It". For 12 cities they will be playing 2 shows (some cities up to 4, such as in Washington DC, oddly enough), their first night featuring the "long of it", longer ballad songs such as The Chimney Sweep and the next night featuring "The Short of It", featuring shorter catchier songs such as The Sporting Life.

All in all I think it's a pretty phenomenal idea, and a great answer for a band with such an extensive catalog as The Decemberists. Everyone complains that they never get to hear everything they wanted to hear, and now here's their chance. Some might argue that someone who has never heard The Decemberists might get a wrong impression of the band if they only attend one or the other, but to be honest, I think this tour is less about making new fans and more about providing something special for their existing ones. However, I think I'd feel kind of like an asshole if I only showed up on the "short of it" day, feeling as if I was just a trendy bastard. On the other side of that coin is showing up for the "long of it" day and probably getting bored. I'm sure many will opt for both, its a great experiment. You get to choose what kind of fan you are, and with a band such as The Decemberists, I feel like they are pretty widely varied.
Ben Kweller is also doing something similar in LA, playing 3 nights, performing each night for each one of his 3 albums top to bottom. They Might Be Giants did something like that in New York City as well, spreading these 3 nights over 3 weeks and playing one show of everything, one show of hit songs and the last of ones with a brass section. I feel like it might seem like a cop out to some, but it might force fans to evaluate what it is they want out of this band and their music. If anything, it will get their fans thinking about the band period, which with a band as established as Decemberists, they might need that kind of reminder sometimes as to why they became a fan in the first place.