Death Cab shine at Pritzker Pavilion (6/3)
It was a foggy and chilly night in Millennium Park, and although that sounds like the beginning of a cheap thriller, it was really the setting for tonight’s impressive show by Death Cab for Cutie. Under the steel bars once designed by Frank Gehry, the Seattle indie rockers shattered the glum expectations, providing a quaint set list that promoted Narrow Stairs while managing to squeeze in ol’ hits.
Despite the jaw dropping architecture and the panoramic showcase of Chicago’s best, Pritzker Pavillion is an unfortunate venue for many reasons. For one, most of the seats are inundated with members of the board and what have you, which means most of the hardcore fans watch from a far. It’s the same ordeal that plagued last year’s Wilco and Decemberists sets. Though for a ten dollar ticket price, you really can’t complain much.
Openers Rogue Wave held together a tight set. The Oakland quartet played a good thirty minutes, entertaining a crowd that was busy attending to overpriced drinks and various picnic happenings. It was still light before they finished, rocking through the appropriate “Lake Michigan” before wrapping things up. Considering they played Reckless Records a few months back, they should be building up a strong fan base, which should help come August at Lollapalooza.
The adventurous “Bixby Canyon Bridge” brought out the band in full form, rigging up enough of an attraction to start the night right. Shortly after, the ex-opener “A New Year” went over well with the Transatlanticism fans, who were pretty much frolicking around the lawn. In fact, this was one of the first concerts in awhile where the fanbase seemed somewhat nonexistent; instead, there were hundreds of Chicagoans that seemed moreover interested in the “new band.”
Like it or not, the Narrow Stairs material sounded fresh and inviting. It might be the reason this indie act is becoming a bigger deal. In the past, their live act has been pegged as either boring or contrived, yet now the band seems assured and well adjusted to the growing fan base that’s proliferated over the past few years (and weeks, really). “Grapevine Fires” and “Long Division” blistered across the venue, with much help from a “less is more” light show that shined across the steel infrastructure. Though with a sprawling eight minute track like “I Will Possess Your Heart” it would have been nice to hear some more improvisation, or something reworked there. Then again, these guys aren’t the Secret Machines.
They do enjoy themselves though. While vocalist Ben Gibbard shuffled throughout every song, especially the
trademark single “Sound of Settling”, the audience seemed inclined to follow. Many “free spirits” rollicked back and forth, forcing their many boyfriends or girlfriends to join. It was quite the site.
In the end, the original soul searchers brought the immediate set to an end. Both “Soul Meets Body” and “I Will Follow You Into the Dark” went over well, with plenty of fans singing along, and “Title and Registration” is still a great track, both on disc and live. This was a well prepared set list. Even the encore fit, which eventually led to a clinching, “Your Heart is an Empty Room”, and a balmy “Transatlanticism.”
Of course, this is all from the perspective of a concertgoer who happened to be in the lawn area. However, one things for sure, this lil’ big band is certainly convincing me to flip out some more cash for better seats whenever they come back. That’s for sure.
Set List:
1. Bixby Canyon Bridge
2. The New Year
3. Why You’d Want to Live Here
4. Photobooth
5. Crooked Teeth
6. Long Division
7. Grapevine Fires
8. A Movie Script Ending
9. Company Calls
10. Company Calls Epilogue
11. Soul Meets Body
12. I Will Follow You Into The Dark
13. I Will Possess Your Heart
14. ….Cath
15. No Sunshine
16. The Sound of Settling
17. Marching Bands of Manhattan
18. Your Bruise
19. Title and Registration
Encore
20. 405
21. Your Heart is an Empty Room
22. Transatlanticism
*w/ additional photography by Art Pena
You forgot to mention that “I Will Follow You Into the Dark” was dedicated to Barack Obama.
Creepy… but I cheered anyway!
Probably because I felt it was so forced. It was as if they had been wanting to “get political” and decided at last minute to throw that in there. We were all baffled.
Yeah…I was seated. The crowd around me was really terrible. My friend Jeff and I got into though, whether they would or not. We didn’t really care, we’d been waiting years to see Death Cab, and we weren’t ready to let a crowd ruin our show.
I thought the band was great though. I will definitely have to see them again, whenever they come back.
Still next, we need more people that will get into it. I felt only mildly awkward when my friend and I were the only ones to shout “YEAH!” when Ben announced they’d be playing some tracks off of “We Have the Facts”
Yeah David, I was excited that “We Have the Facts” material was even considered.
Hey! I thought the show was awesome! I have been a Death Cab for years now… its nice to see others starting to recognize them and like their music however, the concerts have become not necessarily less fun, but somewhat bothersome at times. I go and sing a long to all the songs and really like to see others getting into it as well. This concert the people in front of me kept turning around and giving me weird looks because i was singing and cheering. I was so happy to be there. I LOVE Death Cab. I just hate how its just a concert to some people and they have to look down on those who are actually enjoying it and is their favorite band! I loved that they played some of the old school stuff! Thanks so much for keeping track of the song list! Im so happy! I will put it on my ipod in that order!
silly question–but i’m going to see then in NYC and want to know what time did Death Cab actually go on? and how long did they play?