By
Phil Singer on Thursday, 14th August 2008 at 8:16 pm
Death Cab For Cutie have announced four UK tour dates for November around the UK, including their biggest headlining show to date.
Tickets go on sale tomorrow (15th August) at 9am.
Friday 14th November – Edinburgh Corn Exchange
Saturday 15th November – Nottingham Rock City
Sunday 16th November – Bristol Colston Hall
Monday 17th November – Sheffield Academy
Wednesday 19th November – London Alexandra Palace
By
Phil Singer on Wednesday, 16th July 2008 at 12:34 pm
This review originally appeared on Londonist.
On Monday night I caught US indie supremos Death Cab for Cutie at Koko in Camden as they played as part of the month long iTunes festival at the venue. Needless to say, after having a number one US album, appearing on the OC back when it was good, having a platinum selling big-label debut and selling out two nights at Brixton Academy in the past two years, getting to see them at the relatively intimate Koko was an amazing opportunity that we just couldn’t pass up.
The tricky task of supporting Death Cab went to Das Pop. Normally if you play the hottest pop band to come out of Belgium in a few years to a room full of indie Death Cab fans you’d be seeing a mass exodus for the bar. Somehow though, they managed to win just about the whole auditorium around, with their catchy tunes that sound like Alphabeat songs done by Iggy Pop. Led by Bent Van Looy who looks like Alex Kapranos (of Franz Ferdinand), but with the energy of Mika, the four piece hurtled through 45 minutes of pure pop bliss. Culminating in a mass sing along at the end to “I can’t get enough of your love” and then current single “Underground”, we realised that although we’d come to see Death Cab for Cutie, they’d got a tough act to follow.
Bursting onto the stage from behind a very plush red velvet curtain, Death Cab for Cutie arrived and plunged through a mixture of old favourites and newer tracks from their massive selling “Narrow Stairs”. The new songs such as “Cath”, “No Sunlight” and “Long Division” fit just perfectly next to old classics such as “New Year”, “Crooked Teeth” and “Soul Meets Body”. A few technical troubles blighted the band throughout the set, prompting lead singer and chief songwriter Ben Gibbard to joke “I feel like I’m in a movie and I don’t know what’s going to happen next!” as he introduced “Movie Script Ending”. One of the biggest cheers of the evening came for the epic “I will Possess Your Heart”, an 8 minute rock out that looks set to be one of the best things the band have done, and a chance for them to stretch their legs musically.
Closing out the main set with “Sound of Settling”, Ben came back on his own to do an enchanting version of “I will follow you into the dark”, featuring everyone singing along for a proper hairs-on-the-back-of-your-neck moment. To finish was the classic “Transatlanticism”, a slow builder that builds into a frenzy, a fitting ending to an evening with some of US indie rock’s biggest stars of today.
Death Cab For Cutie have announced a trio of dates around the UK for the summer, almost exactly two years since their last trip over the Atlantic.
Tickets are on sale now for all dates, but expect them to go quickly as they sold out Brixton Academy last trip over here. Prices are £16 for Birmingham and Manchester, £17.50 for London.
Tuesday 15th July – Birmingham Academy
Wednesday 16th July – Manchester Apollo
Thursday 17th July – London Brixton Academy
Wednesday evening saw the return to the UK of Death Cab For Cutie, the American Indie superstar rockers who have struck a chord with millions of teenagers worldwide. They played at Brixton Academy in London to 5,000 adoring fans who queued from early in the day in blazing heat to catch their show.
Support came in the capable hands of Viva Voce, the Portland based husband and wife duo who managed to warm the crowd up suitably, though their screeching guitars did grate a bit after a while. Kevin on the drums was simply sublime: managing to hold the whole thing together whilst wife Anita Robinson’s vocals left a lot to be desired.
9pm rapidly rolled round, and Death Cab came on, playing “Passenger Seat” first up, the perfect beginning, chilled and enthralling the whole audience from the start. The heat of the Academy was forgotten, everyone straining to get a view. “Passenger Seat” soon merged into “The New Year”, which sounded perfect. As the set progressed so did the temperatures, but it was certainly worth it. “What Sarah Says” was a definite highlight, though the security guys at the front seemed thoroughly bemused when 5,000 people sang “So who’s going to watch you die?” – I never thought I’d find humour in that song, but it did provide a bit of a highlight.
They then surprised everyone by playing some oldies that some of the younger OC fans hadn’t heard before – namely “President of What?”, “Company Calls” and “Epilogue”, which brought huge smiles to the faces of the older fans, and were some of the highlights of the set.
Throughout the band were quite quiet, preferring to let the music do the talking, though Ben did joke at one point that Wednesday was the last time they’d be playing as Death Cab. This worried everyone, until he joked that they’d be joining Babyshambles “…because you don’t have to turn up all the time”.
Then, to mix things up a bit Death Cab played their usual encore songs “I Will Follow You Into The Dark” and “Transatlanticism” towards the end of the main set, getting many members of the audience worried that they weren’t going to do an encore. “Follow you into the Dark” was a brilliant sing-along, with everyone knowing the words and providing a moment of pure beauty with everyone joining in.
Shortly after the end of “Transatlanticism” the crowd went mad for more, and whilst Death Cab went to change T-Shirts everyone was chanting for more, whilst wondering what the hell they could play if they’d already played their traditional encores. Thus they came back, and burst into an enthusiastic trio of “Marching Bands of Manhattan”, “Expo ‘86” and a raucous “Sound of Settling”.
Set list: Brixton Academy, 28th June 2006.
Note: Not 100% sure about the order in the middle of the set
Passengers
The new year
Soul Meets Body
Different Names for the same thing
Title and Registration
What Sarah Said
Your Heart is an Empty Room
President of What?
Company Calls
Epilogue
Crooked Teeth
I Will Follow You Into The Dark
We Looked Like Giants
Transatlanticism
———————–
Marching bands of Manhattan
Expo 86
Sound of settling
