Death Cab for Cutie - The Palace - 17th October 2008
Featuring: Death Cab for Cutie
Written by: Alex De Petro
Published: Oct 17th '08
It was a suitably wintry night at Melbourne’s Palace Theatre for Seattle’s premier rock outfit Death Cab for Cutie to perform. Ben Gibbard strode confidently onto the stage, clad entirely in black and framed by Civil-War era sideburns in a kind of Johnny Cash meets Nick Cave homage. The rest of the band followed, and they opened with ‘Bixby Canyon Bridge’, the cracking introduction to their new album Narrow Stairs. The track’s instrumental section, rendered tonight with heavily distorted guitar and screeching bass, set the tone for most of the first part of the set, which, being dominated by songs from the ballsy new album, was far edgier than their lo-fi, nice guys of indie-rock image would’ve suggested. Old favourites were also given new life in this performance, with the sophomore song, ‘New Year’ from their 2003 masterwork Transatlanticism, performed with an unexpected rock anthem edge which was embraced by the crowd.
One definite high point of the set was a central couplet combining old and new with the acoustic ballad ‘I Will Follow You into the Dark’ brilliantly juxtaposed against the pure force of the new single ‘I Will Possess Your Heart’. Gibbard conveyed a more endearing version of ‘I Will Follow you Into the Dark’ than the stripped back performance on 2005’s Plans, revealing at its core his key strength in marrying stunning melodies with pain-wrought lyrics sans the sentimentality. On the other side, the image of Nick Harmer, a lone vision bathed in purple light in the centre of the smoky stage driving the melody with the raw sex of his bassline.
At their best, Death Cab for Cutie have the remarkable ability to transcend space and time. And from the opening chords of their anthem of yearning ‘Transatlanticism’ it was evident that Death Cab had yet to leave their final mark. A fitting climax to a great performance, Death Cab showed the versatility of their catalogue tonight, while still leaving the crowd wanting more.
