Mid Week Mini Music Mix - Death Cab For Cutie, July 5th 2009 - Hollywood Bowl

Look, when you see a band play live a dozen times in the space of about five years, you start getting a bit cocky about how well you know their performance style. Their shows start to feel worn in and comfortable. Maybe a little too comfortable. And so it was with my beloved Death Cab. Sure, it's nice to know exactly which lines Ben Gibbard will harmonize in contrast to the album version of "The New Year". But a lot of the wonder wears off as a result. Things get a little repetitious. So how do you change things up for a die-hard hardcore fan like me?
You fricking get the Los Angeles Philharmonic to play backup for you, that's how. Wow. Wow. To say that I was impressed with the DCFC show at the Hollywood Bowl is an almost ludicrous understatement. A couple of days have passed and I still don't fully comprehend it. My boys from Seattle, who couldn't sell out an all ages show at a tiny place in Pomona before Transatlanticism came out. A group whose name drew strange blank stares six years ago when I decided they were my favorite band. My little band whose albums have truly been the soundtrack to my life. Suddenly I was watching them perform with aplomb on a world-famous stage with a world-famous orchestra.
It was completely insane. I just kep thinking, "there is a harpist strumming along to Death Cab. What the eff. Sheet music was printed for a violin part in 'Soul Meets Body'!" "The L.A. Philharmonic had to learn and rehearse Death Cab songs." "A real conductor is conducting DCFC tracks. Oh my god."
It was utterly beautiful. I almost cried aloud in delight (and actually almost just cried) because some of the songs sounded so fresh and surprising in these arrangements. The strings section for "You Can Do Better Than Me" was a revelation. For the first time in a really long time I saw the band members smile with pure, genuine enjoyment.
And of course they cap the whole thing off with a version of "Transatlanticism" that is outright astonishing. A spirited and moving performance of a song that I thought couldn't get any better live (they proved me wrong), set to a gorgeous and perfectly timed fireworks extravaganza. Unbelievable.
I also want to mention how well the openers, The New Pornographers and Tegan & Sara, set the stage for Death Cab. The New Pornos played a short but lovely set which I thoroughly enjoyed despite the absence of my darling Neko Case. And Tegan & Sara? What can I say. These ladies are rock stars. They thoroughly won over the crowd of nearly 18,000 with their music and with their buckets of funny, honest charm. Tegan & Sara got a standing ovation at the end of their set, which is unheard of for an opener, especially at an L.A. concert. I'm so happy for them.
So as you can see, it was definitely one of the best concerts I've been to. Ever. As soon as Death Cab announced this show there wasn't a doubt in my mind that I would be there in Hollywood on Sunday evening. I am grateful and blessed that it was everything I'd barely dared to hope it would be. A night I'll never forget.
I'll leave you with a few Death Cab songs that mean so very much to me.
Lowell, MA - Death Cab For Cutie - The song that made me fall in love with this band. I first heard it at a listening station at the now-defunct Virgin Megastore in Ontario and music was never the same for me again.
Title And Registration - Death Cab For Cutie - The exact story told in this song happened to me. It was 2003, the year this album came out and I was fumbling around in my glove compartment for some DMV papers when I unexpectedly found a little photo wallet with pictures of me and my ex. We'd broken up in the most astonishingly painful manner not long before, so this song resonated in a way I can still barely express.
What Sarah Said - Death Cab For Cutie - This song went a long way towards patching up my heart when they played it at a show at the end of 2006. It was a year marked with death and with an almost excrutiating cloud of loss and regrets for me. They played a super spare version in an almost dark theater and I was never more moved by their words: "Love is watching someone die. So who's gonna watch you die?"