Review: Death Cab for Cutie at Austin Music Hall

Ben Gibbard rocks his Telecaster at the Austin Music Hall during "The New Year."

If you are familiar with Death Cab for Cutie’s music, then you will understand how ironic and poetically, pathetically apropos it would have been for me to attend their Friday evening concert by myself.

But gentle reader, check the backwards-in-time rub: I’ve seen Death Cab play so many times over the years that I’ve lost count, and the majority of those times I’ve seen them play, I did go by myself. I seem to have a hard time finding a date to go see perhaps  the greatest indie pop date band of the late 20th/early 21st century.

It’s always weird watching a band, a band that you really love, go from playing to a handful of people in a dingy indie rock club to playing before 70,000 people at an outdoor festival. You reach a point where you admit to yourself that the band is not yours anymore…and just like the old adage goes, you set them free. Every band wants to be super-popular, so you have to be happy for your favorite band when they win the rock ‘n’ roll lottery.

I’m still trying to recall all the times I’ve seen them…not for you gentle reader, but for my own self…just so I’ll know:

• Lawrence, Kansas at the Bottleneck (Shiner opened)
• Austin at Emo’s (during a SXSW day party…I videotaped this one)
• Ben Gibbard solo at what is now called The Mohawk
• Two nights at Stubb’s during Transatlanticism tour
• A very hot (temperature-wise) show at ACL Fest
• A show at the Backyard (went with my ex-girl)
• Austin Music Hall show on May 1, 2009

My review of their Friday evening concert ran in today’s Austin American-Statesman. It’s very hard for me to write a comprehensive review within a 150 words capsule review. My review today was almost twice as long. I stoped counting at 400 words.

As you read – if you read it – know that I wanted to write twice as much more. I had twice as much more outlined in my head.

Here is a link to my original American-Statesman article; it appears in an altered version below.

(Note: The versions of my articles that appear in this blog are different than versions published in the newspaper as I prefer to avoid copyright issues, even though I would think that my re-publishing of my own articles on my blog would fall under “fair use.” I also sometimes add things that might have been edited out by my editor…or additional words and thoughts that I wish I had added…a la Walt Whitman’s life-long editing of “Leaves of Grass.”)

By V.M. Black | Monday, May 4, 2009, 12:01 PM

Being engaged fits Gibbard like a tailored suit as he appears more svelte than ever.

Seattle, Wash.’s venerable indie-ethos rock band Death Cab for Cutie messed around and busted out their best Austin show in years Friday night at Austin Music Hall.

Between South by Southwest, Austin City Limits Festival and regular album support tour stops, Death Cab has always put on perfunctory performances, but rarely have they been “one of the best shows I’ve ever seen in my life.” Seemed it always took them at least half their set to get warmed up. Once during a two-night-stand at Stubb’s on their “Transatlanticism” tour, they didn’t really begin to gel until their final song.

This time it appeared Death Cab had stepped up all elements of their tour production into a multi-bus, multi-semi-trailer truck affair. The PA’s sound engineering was on point (except in the far back) and the stage lighting was choreographed to accentuate the mood and tenor of the songs, creating displays that highlighted crescendos and emotions.

Another noticeable difference in the band’s performance was the depth of their catalog, allowing them to perform a crushingly emotional song-cycle. Frontman Ben Gibbard has always been a songwriter’s songwriter, and more than 10 years of crafting some of the most beloved melancholy indie-pop in the genre has built the band’s song collection into something deep and overwhelmingly powerful. All those years of touring (with basically the same lineup) has also allowed the band to become tighter than many of their peers. The members of Death Cab for Cutie have matured into consummate rock ‘n’ roll professionals.

Gibbard appeared more svelte than in past shows, performing with a relaxed air of assuredness. Highlights included the Los Angeles send-up “Why’d You Want to Live Here” and the dusted-off gem “Photobooth.” The coup de grace encore was delivered with two of their best songs, “A Movie Script Ending” and “Transatlanticism,” Gibbard’s mellifluous voice pulling at heartstrings like a blustery winter break-up.

Ben Gibbard gets a "Boss" sound out of Fender Telecasters, a unique choice of guitars (a few people will get the pun in here).

Setlist:
The Employment Pages
Your Heart Is An Empty Room
The New Year
Why’d You Want to Live Here
President of What?
Crooked Teeth
Photobooth
Company Calls
Grapevine Fires
I Will Possess Your Heart
I Will Follow You Into The Dark
Title and Registration
Cath
Long Division
The Sound of Settling
Soul Meets Body
Scientist Studies

Encore:
A Diamond and A Tether
A Movie Script Ending
Transatlanticism

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