1,273 DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE, Slow Pulp, London Royal Albert Hall, Wednesday 29th March 2023

 

This one should have made perfect sense… Death Cab For Cutie, enduring Seattle alt-rock veterans and the black jeans-wearing, thinking US indie-fan’s second favourite band (after The National, of course…!), have recently inveigled their way back into the forefront of my listening fashion, their plangent return-to-form 2018 effort “Thank You For Today” being followed by 2022’s splendid “Asphalt Meadows”, possibly their best effort since those halycon early 00’s days of “Transatlanticism” and the seminal “The Photo Album” (still easily their finest work for me). “Asphalt Meadows” is an altogether more upbeat and immediate effort, whilst still replete with DCFC staples as intelligent songcraft and introspective confessional lyricism, and I confess I had difficulty picking a favourite track to represent them on my “Best Of” 2022 mix CD! So, an initial announcement of a one-off date at the Royal Albert Hall piqued my interest enough to cough up the rather steep ticket price, in the hope of hearing DCFC’s trademark clear, melancholy melody and musicianship displayed to best effect in these ornate and opulent surroundings…

 I hit the road at 4, and, as per the recent Killing Joke gig here (gig 1,269), parked up at Osterley and tubed to Gloucester Road for the hike to the venue, albeit in anticipation of a slightly less visceral and brutal (and hopefully better-sounding) experience than that one! Sorted out some family stuff on the phone after grabbing a central spot a few rows back, but my head was back in the game for openers Slow Pulp at 7.30. Beloved by DCFC’s main man Ben Gibbard (a point he made frequently during their set), Slow Pulp weren’t a plodding version of Jarvis’ 90’s lot, rather an alt/dreampop/ Americana collective from Wisconsin. After a wistful and wispy opener, “I Don’t Get” was a little more upbeat and robust, the set subsequently switching between these 2 paces of material. It was all pleasant enough, smooth and dreamy indie-lite but nothing really stuck; even a later, grungier number with Pixies-esque power riffery seemed, well, polite, the blonde vocalist even breaking out a harmonica for the full-on hushed Americana closer “Backwoods Man”…

 I shuffled back to 3 or 4 rows back to let some tiny girls in front of me, but even approaching showtime there was still fairly ample space to move around in my position. Sell-out? Didn’t feel like it… Ben led the troops on at 8.30, easing into opener “I Don’t Know How I Survive” under a single spotlight. The quiet opening to this number should have led to the startling riff underpinning the hook, but unfortunately it sounded too echoey and bassy on arrival, with not enough of Ben’s more nuanced vocal (made more notable by Ben’s predilection to go slightly off mic for his delivery) or guitar sound in the mix. Oh dear, here we go again…

 The anticipated pounding strident backbeat of “The New Year” was drowned out by even a polite singalong from my fellow punters, and despite Ben’s obvious energy, kinetic enthusiasm and clear pleasure at playing here (“sometimes we say we’re happy to be places but we’re not; but we’re really happy to be here!”), the sound never lived up to his/ the bands performance levels or my expectations. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed their performance in large part; an early “Movie Script Ending” was plaintive, understated and quite lovely, the undulating riff of a groovy “Here To Forever” was splendid, and an acapella outro to the slightly menacing “Black Sun” was sung back reverentially by the crowd. However, like that House Of Love 2018 Roundhouse gig (gig 1,110) I just wanted it to sound better, fuller, clearer, more…

 “After the last month [on tour] I swear we should be sponsored by Boots!” quipped Ben before the metronomic chug of “I Miss Strangers” , actually the best and fullest sounding number thus far. Further nostalgia stories followed about their first London dates at the Dublin Castle in 2001 (“the [house] mic smelled like it had been in somebody’s ass!”) before a suitably melancholy, piano-embellished “Rand McNally”; then a solo acoustic “I Will Follow You Into The Dark” was a beautiful, heartbreaking paean, wonderfully observed and accompanied by the crowd and easily the highlight of the main set. “Asphalt Meadows” was another highlight, building to a layered crescendo, before Ben drew the DCFC “recital” to a close with “a prayer to the American West”, the talking verse and chiming riffery of “Foxglove Through The Clearcut”, almost a companion piece to Clem Snide’s excellent “I Love The Unknown”.

 

A 4-song encore featured an almost jolly, strumalong “Soul Meets Body” and gushing thanks from Ben (“never mind a career highlight; this is a life highlight”) before “Transatlanticism”; comfortably the best and best sounding number of the night, the solo piano opening ceded to the rhythm rolling in like the tide, before the cymbal crashed in like breakers on the shore as the repetitive hook built to a crescendo. Great way to finish an ultimately enjoyable, if uneven and frustrating, near-2 hour performance. A slow walk back to the tube, then a maddening drive home down a roadworks- and speed restrictions-riddled M4 got me home for a tired 12.45. Ugh! So, it should have made sense, but kind of didn’t – 2 poor sounding gigs in a row at such a prestige venue as the Royal Albert Hall is, frankly, a bit shit really. But none of those issues were down to Death Cab For Cutie; they did their best to put on a fine performance, so fair play for that, but next time I see them I’ll hope to go somewhere that the sound works properly…

1,120 DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE, The Beths, Bristol O2 Academy, Wednesday 30th January 2019

So this is the New Year (to quote tonight’s hosts)...! After a false start due to the annoying cancellation of the Skids' Swindon MECA gig, my 2019 Spring Dance Card finally gets underway. Although for a time this one, a return by cerebral and understated US alt-rock veterans Death Cab For Cutie, doing the rounds in support of their fine, plangent 2018 album "Thank You For Today", seemed in doubt due to the threat of snow. Thankfully, that never came about, it's just chuffing freezing instead!

So a chilly drive down pitched me up at the venue at 7.30, queueing up to get in then realising I can use the O2 priority lane instead! Yay! However, I then had to hike up to the balcony, then back down again, and eventually to the outside of everything, where the gents portaloos were situated, as the normal bogs were being refurbished. Bah! Still, grabbed my usual house-left spot well in time for openers, The Beths, prompt at 8. A New Zealand quartet, they immediately impressed with some sturdy and effervescent female-fronted and 80's tinged indie pop, recalling the likes of The Popguns or The Katydids, certainly getting the seal of approval from Big Jeff, bopping and singing along down the front! Some lovely overlaid harmonies backing up the pure, Mary Lorson-like inflections of petite (and slightly nervous) vocalist Elizabeth Stokes augmented their high-tempo and quickfire melodic little numbers very well indeed. Fourth number "Running Away" was a superb amphetamine rush of a song with a splendid ascending guitar outro, after which Stokes burbled excitedly about the headliners; "this band Death Cab For Cutie are great and they're playing here tonight! They've been really nice to us, they don't have to be, they could be real jerks..." A double-header finale featuring a melodic call-and-response chorus, followed by an almost garage rock thrash, rounded off a mighty impressive support slot.

Another circuitous loo trip was punctuated by a chat with FB friend and photo king Martin Thompson, lurking outside for a smoke, then I somehow regained my spot on the by-now rammed floor in time for Death Cab's arrival at 9 to the background rumble of jungle drums. Surprisingly, they positively tore through their initial clutch of numbers with unexpected power and punch, seeming determined at this early stage to deliver a right proper "rock show". This approach initially seemed odd and a little gauche, but I came to appreciate the extra dynamism it offered, as opposed to their previous attempts at rocking out, which I used to find clumsy and unsuiting to the material. And there were times that I found myself doing a double take and wondering if I'd turned up one gig early, as, with his short-sleeved black shirt, floppy fringe and general stance and demeanour, DCFC mainman Ben Gibbard looked for all the world like Jimmy Eat World vocalist Jim Adkins! Certainly he was a man in a hurry, both scurrying around onstage and ripping through the songs without seeming drawing breath.

After an almost punk rock "Long Division", oldie "Title And Registration" provided some small respite, before the hazy Summery vibe of new single "Gold Rush". "No Sunlight" was great, a couple of false endings being teased by a playful Ben. A false start then followed, Ben's keyboard temporarily malfunctioning before righting itself for a poignant, affecting and frankly beautiful "What Sarah Said", tonight’s highlight. Whilst the set thereafter may have drifted slightly for me, there were still highlights aplenty; "Black Sun" was moody and melancholy, "Doors Unlocked And Open" a fluid road trip of a song, and set closer "The Sound Of Settling" buoyant, upbeat and singalong. Before that we heard Ben's evolving manifesto for DCFC live shows; no shorts (!), no inserting the host city into the lyric of a song ("too corny"), and never introduce a song with its title ("not a problem," remarked Ben, "just something I choose not to do... so here's a song that I'm not going to tell you the name of it!"). Contrary bugger!

 

Another fun moment, when Ben took the stage solo for the encore, noticing Big Jeff sketching him down the front and dedicating an acoustic "I Will Follow You Into The Dark" to him! A shout out from Ben for the "delightful" city of Bristol before the sprawling, epic "Transatlanticism" ended the night, building to a layered and looped crescendo to top tonight’s 2 hours performance.

Out via a set-list, a merch stop for the Beths CD and brief chats with Jeff, Devizes gig buddy Alfie and Make A Wish puppet Walter's "dad"(!), before a chilly blast past Swindon as Junction 16 was shut, necessitating a trip to J15, a double-back and a post-midnight arrival home. Bah! Overall though, despite a couple of slightly drifty moments, this was a fine, unexpectedly rocking opener to gig year 2019, thanks to Death Cab For Cutie. So this is indeed The New Year!

952 DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE, We Were Promised Jetpacks, London Shepherd’s Bush Empire, Tuesday 9th June 2015

London… again? Yikes! Oh well, here we go again…!

My third trip oop the Smoke in 7 days promised to be an odd juxtaposition; an unknown quantity of a well-established act! Death Cab For Cutie, those cerebral Seattle indie craftsmen, who’d infiltrated my consciousness in 2002, producing my favourite album of said year in the superb “The Photo Album”, and had then continued to crank out a succession of albums of decent enough but diminishing quantity, almost to the point where I was about done with them. However, new album “Kinsugi” received a big up from Tim, so I picked it up and decided to give them another chance “live”, given they were playing at the accessible (and compact!) Shepherd’s Bush Empire, rather than the cavernous likes of Brixton Academy, where their blander recent material had bumped them up to. I liked the new album well enough, finding it more immediate than of late, with a slew of brain-hugging, easy melodies; not a patch on “The Photo Album”, of course, but better than Rach’s view – she thought it sounded like The Pet Shop Boys! A bit harsh, that, although I’ll concede that Ben Gibbard’s clearly enunciated and slightly lilting vocals might slightly resemble Neil Tennant’s, but still…

Anyway, the promise of a good support necessitated an early start, so Tim picked me up just after 5 and we parked up on the Uxbridge Road at 20 past 7, hitting the venue for this, the second of a sold-out 3 might residency, and watching the place fill up before said good support joined us at 8. Scotland’s We Were Promised Jetpacks (for ‘twas they) eased into some powerful, emotive rock, the opening number almost recalling the strident delivery and seething emotion of The Sheila Divine; “Human Error” a powerful, drum-led mood piece, and a subsequent “A Part Of It” another pounding, almost militaristic drum base underpinning a tune of epic power, building to a crashing crescendo which recalled their compatriots Biffy Clyro, no less! Vocalist Adam Thompson was a solid, formidable presence with a strident, soaring voice which held the attention, particularly during widescreen set highlight “Keeping Warm”, a tempo- and mood-changing slow-fast-quiet-noisy number, where his vocals veered from a yearning keen to a scalded howl. Closer “Thunder And Lightning” (prior to which, Thompson really couldn’t say, “thank you,” enough times!) built to a crashing rhythmic ride, then careered to an abrupt end, to cap an impressing opening set. Follow that, Death Cab!

The place was old-school packed as we moved forward to a decent spot a few rows back, stage right, for Death Cab’s entrance at 9 to some odd radio announcement tape. As if picking up the gauntlet thrown down by their impressive support, they were excellent from note one; the sound shimmering and crystal clear, opener “No Room In Frame” chugging along fulsomely, Gibbard’s vocals dancing over the high-pitched melody. A good start, which was well received by the enthusiastic crowd, whom Gibbard welcomed with, “what’s up London! Welcome to night 2 of “Death Cab Does Shepherd’s Bush!””. However, waaaay better was to come 3^rd number in; “Why You’d Want To Live Here”, the crown jewel of “The Photo Album”, an assiduous, acerbic critique of Los Angeles, ironically Gibbard’s short-lived marital home with ex Zooey Deschanel, and easily their best number. Mean, moody and magnificent!

They totally had me after that; the subsequent set was perfectly paced, taking in all aspects of their intelligent, eminently melodic and insidiously catchy canon, from a haunting, eerie “Black Sun”, through the underlying hint of menace behind the libidinous groove of “Doors Unlocked And Open”, to a touching and totally lovely “Movie Script Ending” (a pastoral elegy to their home town of Bellingham, WA). Also, whilst possessing more oomph than on CD, the set never rocked out

excessively (as had been a criticism of mine in past DCFC shows), the songs treated with respect and delivered accordingly. Gibbard was also in good fooling, commenting, “in this beautiful venue it feels like you’re all in my lap – in a Santa Claus kind of way,” and later delivering a bizarre, almost stand-up skit about the recently announced Virgin Sex Pistols credit card (“I can whip it out and show everyone I’m as punk as fuck!”).

A beautiful solo “I Will Follow You Into The Dark” was hushed and reverential, and “Soul Meets Body” was lush and melodic, the lyric “a melody softly soaring through my atmosphere” an apt metaphor for tonight. A nice touch as well when, after introducing his 5-piece band, Gibbard introduced himself; “I play guitar and sing in the band Death Cab For Cutie… we are Death Cab For Cutie!”

After a messy encore run-through of “The Sound Of Settling” (which guitarist Dave Deppar right royally fucked up, almost playing a different tune and providing pretty much the only jarring note of the evening), Death Cab climaxed a 2 hour set (wow! Where did that go?) with a sprawling, building “Transatlanticism”, travelling inexorably toward a soaring climax. Great stuff.

Grabbed a list (!) and some merch, then we had a difficult 2 hour journey home with late night roadworks at both Chiswick and Reading forcing us to abandon the M4 a couple of times. Another London red-eye, but another trip well worth it. I didn’t expect “Why You’d Want To Live Here” so that in itself made my night; however the rest of the set held my attention in a way I wasn’t expecting, and I’m really glad I gave Death Cab For Cutie another chance. They’ve got me interested again!

627 DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE, The Cribs, Youth Movie Soundtrack Strategies, Oxford Zodiac, Saturday 7 February 2004

This one fell on an Evan visit Saturday but, undeterred, we sorted tickets and hammered down the M40 to Oxford, getting to the venue at 10 past 8 just as the cumbersomely-named first band were finishing, so I have no idea what they sounded like! The Cribs, on the other hand, we did hear, albeit from the bar. They had an element of C86 cutesy jingle about them, but also a catchy glam rock edge. Not too bad but I couldn't eat a whole one.

The place was very full so we wandered back in, and took up position stage right. However we realised DCFC vocalist Ben Gibbard was set up as far stage left as possible, and it was too rammed to move over. D'oh! I was nevertheless well up for this one, with Death Cab For Cutie being providers of my favourite album of 2002 with "The Photo Album", and also receiving my Best Band of Reading Festival that same year with a superb performance. Initially, they lived up to my expectations tonight with strident versions of "A Movie Script Ending" and "The New Year". Then it started to go... not so much "wrong" really, as just "not right". "Why You'd Want To Live Here", their best number by far, was dispensed with unnecessarily early in the set, all its' absorbing elements and intricate tunefulness buried under swathes of loud riffery. Thereafter the set, concentrating mainly on 2003 CD "Transatlanticism", and disappointingly omitting both "We Laugh Indoors" and "I Was A Kaleidoscope" rarely reached the expected heights. Death Cab For Cutie songs are intelligent, thoughtful, intricate little beasts, and tonight they did not benefit from the manhandling that they were given. DCFC rocked, and that was the problem.

We headed off straight after the set, as tiredness from the big day set in. Disappointing, sure, but I like this lot too much to give up on them after one below-par performance!

694 DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE, John Vanderslice, Oxford Brookes University, Saturday 11 March 2006

Bloody Brookes again? D'oh! When I originally booked tix for this show, it was scheduled for the infinitely preferable Zodiac, but demand saw it switched to the bigger Brookes venue, which also then sold out! Flip! Tim and Penny were also due to come with us, but they had clashing commitments so backed out. Perhaps they just didn't want to go to this horrible venue!

So, Rachel and I set off at about 7.30 with somewhat heavy hearts, not really looking forward to this one. We found the place OK this time, but again an unnecessarily long queue coupled with attempts to sell Tim's tickets (we managed to flog one) meant it took nearly 15 minutes after arriving to get in, and we missed all but the last half of the last John Vanderslice number! As he had a band with him this time, this would have been worth watching...

So we got drinks and wandered around the venue in the usual futile search for an adequate viewing spot, eventually settling for an angled view stage left by the entrance to the toilets! Great...

Death Cab For Cutie sauntered casually on at 10 to 9 - early! Good on 'em! - and kicked off with the opener to their recent very fine "Plans" CD. A band who've never come close to matching their brilliant 2002 "Photo Album" CD for me, their set tonight was nevertheless much better than my last viewing at the aforementioned Zodiac. Their intricate and introspective bedsit ballads were played with care and respect this time, and they only "rocked out" when there was a specific need (e.g. the middle 8 to the excellent "We Laugh Indoors"). Wordsmith and vocalist Ben Gibbard was in playful mood, but the song delivery tonight was deliberate, controlled and appropriate. Very fine indeed - certainly more than the venue, or the static and unappreciative audience, deserved!

A sinewy "Movie Script Ending" (one of only 2 "Photo Album" numbers tonight - boo!) and set closer "Sound Of Settling" were the highlights until the encore, which provided a faithful cover of REM's classic "Driver 8", and a triumphant, end of tour "Transatlanticism", which included John Vanderslice and his band getting a piece of the action. Great finish, fine set, poor audience, crap venue!