Death Cab Roll Call

fun show last night … dragged a little towards the middle-end of the set when they played some of their snoozers, but they sounded really inspired for the most part … a few of the older cuts were really nice, and i like how they got "soul meets body" out of the way relatively early … encore was great

My thoughts exactly. DCist must have had Harriet Miers reviewing, given their review of "BEST SHOW EVER!!!"
I thought tonight the band was better, more energy, but I liked the setlist last night more. Stars were better last night, when they outplayed DCFC, but still very good tonight.

Huge thanks to the 9:30 Club for requesting 405. I've seen the band upwards of 8 or 9 times now, and have been wanting to hear that tune for over four years.

So thanks.

Went to both shows - tonight's was better, in my opinion, just because of the song selection and energy.

Originally posted by callat703:
Huge thanks to the 9:30 Club for requesting 405. I've seen the band upwards of 8 or 9 times now, and have been wanting to hear that tune for over four years.

They played 405?!?! They better play that in Raleigh. Acoustic, I assume?

Originally posted by [username edited by p.c. moderator]:

Originally posted by callat703:
Huge thanks to the 9:30 Club for requesting 405. I've seen the band upwards of 8 or 9 times now, and have been wanting to hear that tune for over four years.

They played 405?!?! They better play that in Raleigh. Acoustic, I assume?

No. Not acoustic. Full band; Chris was playing a Rickenbacker 660 12 string and Ben his G&L ASAT. Ben specifically said that they hadn't done it in a very, very long time. It was fucking incredible. Served as the second song of the encore. And then they closed with Prove My Hypotheses.

Great show; very impressed by Stars. Funniest moment of the evening for me happened before the show, when it became apparent that the girls in queue in front of us had their mom sitting in an Odyssey in front of the club.

DCFC is one of the few bands that sound truely great live.

the crowd sucked.

i'm not kidding about this… while standing next to the bar, i heard people talking about the OC on four separate occasions.

oh and i wanted to slap the shit out of the two girls who wouldn't shut the fuck up throughout the entire show.

Really?

Originally posted by han:
DCFC is one of the few bands that sound truely great live.

I thought the Stars were fantastic and almost stole the show from Death Cab. Great band. They were hyped coming in and lived up to it. Ill be downloading their album soon.

Im pretty lukewarm on Death Cab. I actually preferred their Postal Service album over anything that theyve done (yes Im that guy) and I was hoping this would be a concert where I would be won over with their live show just like Wilco blew me away earlier in the year.

Wasnt really to be. Cant put a finger on it. I did like this show and I thought a few of the songs were great (the one with David out alone acoustically was fantastic). I thought it was a bit plodding and bland with not a whole lot of energy from the band. Their tunes while pretty good, dont really grab me. Plus it was Sunday night and I was beat. Ben Gibbard is a stellar musician though. He makes it all look very effortless

As an aside, their guitarist seems like a really nice guy, but I dont think in the history of rock music has their been a bandmember that is less cool than the Death Cab guitarist (though Stars frontman gave it a good shot). I was there the first night and at the end he waved, "See you soon, like tomorrow, bye!" Then he gave this 5 year old, wristy girl wave and ran off on his toes almost tripping on some of the wires. Pretty funny.

Originally posted by beedubyah:
I thought the Stars were fantastic and almost stole the show from Death Cab. Great band. They were hyped coming in and lived up to it. Ill be downloading their album soon.

they were really good … much better than when i saw them open for broken social scene a couple of years ago, just tighter and more professional … don't you think, rhett?

i was struck by how many people in stars i saw play in broken social scene when i saw them this summer in NYC … the dude with the moustache, the female lead, and at least one or two others were playing with BSS

i was kinda hoping we'd hear "anthems for a seventeen-year-old girl", but i guess i'll have to buy a ticket to tomorrow's show for that

many thanks to 930 peeps for requesting 405…. also a very nice surprise, they played Company Calls EPILOGUE, the first time I've seen them do this better, second part of the song (they always do the first)

The crowd was remarkably unfamiliar with the older stuff, which in this case, isn't really all that old. But it seemed like they tried to get it, and were reasonably quiet and attentive during those parts…. so they get an A for effort.

Gibbard looked like he gained a little weight. Walla looks like he lost some.

Stars were great, not as animated as at their black cat performance a while back but they sounded better (and you could HEAR their vocals at the 930, which was nice).

Originally posted by HoyaParanoia:
they were really good … much better than when i saw them open for broken social scene a couple of years ago, just tighter and more professional … don't you think, rhett?

Nicely played.

Originally posted by beedubyah:
I actually preferred their Postal Service album over anything that theyve done (yes Im that guy)

You're in good company:

Postal Service had sold 650,000 copies, while Death Cab "Transatlanticism" was in the 200,000 range.

I read it in an article in the past few weeks. No, I can't find the reference; I'll bet GGW can.

Canadian bands I guess are interchangeable. Metric, BSS, Stars, Arcade Fire…Theyve all spent time in each others bands. They should just create a supergroup of 30 people and become the canadian Polyphonic Spree

Originally posted by chimbly sweep:
i have to say, $14 for a double shot of Jack was a fine bargain, considering it kept me from strangling the girl who stood next to me, dancing by twirling her hands in the air, owning her boyfriend, and talking about Ani Difranco (pronounced "annie") and how "she's so cool because she's, like, so left that she's left of left."

anyway.

genius idea, tbmtt, to go stand in the back, get piss drunk, and laugh at everyone. we heard the music just fine, didn't need earplugs, didn't step on a 12-year-old by mistake, and had dancing space. i loved hearing the old stuff - photobooth, etc.- and romanticizing the good old days. Do folks remember the modest mouse/death cab show at the old black cat? We were discussing who opened for whom, and whether it was sold out. I say DCFC opened, and it wasn't sold out. Either way, DCFC is now SOLD OUT. in so many ways. Oh, and they're getting a little chunky. Must be that rich man's diet they're getting on.

and the grand total bar tab was over $70.

if i were you; i would have stepped on every single one of those obnoxious kids–that probably all go to my school–who don't even LIKE death cab. well, save the OC and Plans.

Originally posted by beedubyah:
Canadian bands I guess are interchangeable. Metric, BSS, Stars, Arcade Fire…Theyve all spent time in each others bands. They should just create a supergroup of 30 people and become the canadian Polyphonic Spree

Well isn't Amy married to someone in BSS's "regular line-up." I know that Metric, Stars, BSS, Apostle of Hustle all share members/guest on each other's albums but who from Arcade Fire has mixed with the Arts and Crafts crew?

Speaking of the sharing of members- Does anyone have any clue if we might see a few members of Stars at Wednesday's BSS show? Here is why I ask- Death Cab/Stars have no show listed for Wednesday night and they have shows in Philly tonight, North Carolina on Thursday. With BSS in DC on Wednesday, it seems like it would be easy for Stars to stop in at the 9:30 club to hang out with their pals.

Originally posted by han:
DCFC is one of the few bands that sound truely great live.

i have had the exact opposite experience, I gave up on them after 3 or 4 tries live

The people who mentioned that the sound was really good at the Sunday show were right. I can't believe how great it sounded, even from way in the back. It was loud, but not bleeding-ears loud and everything sounded crisp. Nice change of pace considering my ears are still not right after the Bob Mould show, which was one of the loudest I've heard in a while.

Originally posted by thegazelle:
I can't believe how great it sounded, even from way in the back.

Shouldn't it sound the best closest to the soundbooth? I'm seriously asking.

Originally posted by thegazelle:
The people who mentioned that the sound was really good at the Sunday show were right. I can't believe how great it sounded, even from way in the back. It was loud, but not bleeding-ears loud and everything sounded crisp. Nice change of pace considering my ears are still not right after the Bob Mould show, which was one of the loudest I've heard in a while.

I think a large part of this is that Death Cab tours with their own sound engineer - they even named their tour EP after him - John Byrd. Very nice guy who really knows what he's doing - he also plays some keyboards from the booth in certain parts.

yeah, they bored me on Sun night

the 'sound' was great, but the overall live experience was 'eh'

Originally posted by pdx pollard:

Originally posted by han:
DCFC is one of the few bands that sound truely great live.

i have had the exact opposite experience, I gave up on them after 3 or 4 tries live