Austin City Limits Festival - day two (Death Cab For Cutie)
so after Built To Spill's set me and Dana moved our way up to front row off to the left in preperation for Death Cab For Cutie, i was looking forward to seeing them seeing as how i've only seen Ben Gibbard solo and so this would be my intro to the full band live. the band came out and Chris sat down at the keyboards so i knew it would be a mellow opener and it was, they opened with the opener of Plans, "Marching Bands Of Manhattan", and as i knew it would be, the outro of the song ("sorrow drips into your heart through a pinhole / just like a faucet that leaks and there is comfort in the sound / but while you debate half empty or half full / it slowly rises your love is gonna drown") was a great singalong for those that knew it. next came another great singalong, "We Laugh Indoors", with Ben emoting the refrain of "i loved you Guinevere", the band sounded so tight and they were obviously having a great time with Ben and Chris exchanging big grins and Nick bouncing around in front of Jason.
next up was the live powerhouse that is "The New Year", this song perfectly shows off this band's strengths: great lyrics, dynamic song structures and passionate performances, Chris particularly got into this song a lot. next Ben got to use his little electronic drums on "Title & Registration", this was another great song live, the lyrics are so heartbreaking and Ben delivers them so sincerely. after that brief trip back to Transatlanticism it was time to push the new record again with the pairing of the single, "Soul Meets Body" with "Summer Skin". "Soul Meets Body" went over very well with the crowd while "Summer Skin" proved problematic for Ben since apparently he couldn't hear himself in the keyboard monitors, at one point he even went over to the soundman to have some words while the rest of the band played on.
Ben came back to his mic with guitar in hand and the band launched into a re-worked "President Of What?" that was very good before going to the Photo Album for "A Movie Script Ending", this is another in a long line of songs that show how great of a songwriter Ben is, melodically and lyrically, he's at the top of his game.
after those two classics from the back catalogue it was time for another double dose of Plans, first came the rocking "Crooked Teeth" which was even better live than on record and then Ben went back to the keyboard for "Different Names For The Same Thing", this time his trip to the keyboards produced much better results. as he came back from the keyboards he wound up his towel and smacked Nick in the ass with it as if the ACL stage was a high school gym locker room, this was the first of many laughs that would happen in the coming minutes. the band kicked into "Company Calls" and it became quite apparent that Ben was having trouble remembering the lyrics which Ben, Nick and Chris seemed to find quite amusing, finally Ben motioned for Chris to join him on vocals and Ben got his cues from Chris, Ben apologized for not remembering the lyrics after the song was done. next came one of my favorite songs by them, "I Was A Kaleidoscope", it sounded beautiful live. next came their big single, "The Sound Of Settling", i was afraid it would be their last song, but luckily it was not. Chris dedicated the next song to Liam Gallagher from Oasis and said that he heard it was his birthday that day so they better wish him a happy birthday or else he might not play the show that night, it was an amusing little jab at the egos of the Gallagher brothers, then the band went into an intense version of "Prove My Hypothesis" complete with a standing on the drums conclusion and a huge leap from Nick that left him on the ground as the rest of the band left the stage.
all in all Death Cab delivered the goods, they have a great energy live and a great catalog of songs to choose from, the crowd loved them and it was quite apparent why the major labels came calling to them, they are a great band that deserves to be heard by people.
*all pictures from aclfestival.com (except the ones in the cut)
next up was the live powerhouse that is "The New Year", this song perfectly shows off this band's strengths: great lyrics, dynamic song structures and passionate performances, Chris particularly got into this song a lot. next Ben got to use his little electronic drums on "Title & Registration", this was another great song live, the lyrics are so heartbreaking and Ben delivers them so sincerely. after that brief trip back to Transatlanticism it was time to push the new record again with the pairing of the single, "Soul Meets Body" with "Summer Skin". "Soul Meets Body" went over very well with the crowd while "Summer Skin" proved problematic for Ben since apparently he couldn't hear himself in the keyboard monitors, at one point he even went over to the soundman to have some words while the rest of the band played on.
Ben came back to his mic with guitar in hand and the band launched into a re-worked "President Of What?" that was very good before going to the Photo Album for "A Movie Script Ending", this is another in a long line of songs that show how great of a songwriter Ben is, melodically and lyrically, he's at the top of his game.
after those two classics from the back catalogue it was time for another double dose of Plans, first came the rocking "Crooked Teeth" which was even better live than on record and then Ben went back to the keyboard for "Different Names For The Same Thing", this time his trip to the keyboards produced much better results. as he came back from the keyboards he wound up his towel and smacked Nick in the ass with it as if the ACL stage was a high school gym locker room, this was the first of many laughs that would happen in the coming minutes. the band kicked into "Company Calls" and it became quite apparent that Ben was having trouble remembering the lyrics which Ben, Nick and Chris seemed to find quite amusing, finally Ben motioned for Chris to join him on vocals and Ben got his cues from Chris, Ben apologized for not remembering the lyrics after the song was done. next came one of my favorite songs by them, "I Was A Kaleidoscope", it sounded beautiful live. next came their big single, "The Sound Of Settling", i was afraid it would be their last song, but luckily it was not. Chris dedicated the next song to Liam Gallagher from Oasis and said that he heard it was his birthday that day so they better wish him a happy birthday or else he might not play the show that night, it was an amusing little jab at the egos of the Gallagher brothers, then the band went into an intense version of "Prove My Hypothesis" complete with a standing on the drums conclusion and a huge leap from Nick that left him on the ground as the rest of the band left the stage.
all in all Death Cab delivered the goods, they have a great energy live and a great catalog of songs to choose from, the crowd loved them and it was quite apparent why the major labels came calling to them, they are a great band that deserves to be heard by people.
*all pictures from aclfestival.com (except the ones in the cut)