At the peak of its capabilities. Showing off more than ever. Of sweet. that’s how they are Death Cab For Cutie live. At this stage. Perhaps no one would have anticipated it when Chris Walla stepped off the boat back in 2015 and inspiration was waning. But 25 years of career and ten albums, including the recent rebound that he has brought “Asphalt Meadows” (2022), perfectly located at the end of a hypothetical Top 5 (the best they have done in more than a decade, although it does not equal their best albums), are enough tools to devise a show of 23 songs and almost two hours in which that practically no ups and downs happen. One of those in which the very good songs continue to seem so, and the not so good ones seem much better than they are. Exhibiting the kindest and most convincing face of that emotionally charged indie rock with which they gave continuity (along with Modest Mouse or Built To Spill, from whom they learned so much) to everything that those heroes of the nineties (Pavement, Sebadoh, Guided By Voices) showed the world so long ago. With its caveats and tolls, it’s not for nothing that Ben Gibbard and company transcended the mainstream barrier when some of their songs were included in series like The OC (Josh Schwartz, 2003-2007), House (David Shore, 2004-2012) o Twilight (Stephanie Meyer, 2005-2009). They never disgusted the general public. And they did well.
The versatile Dave Depper and Zac Rae (guitars and keyboards) have done the Seattle band extremely well. Ben Gibbard, the man of all-day trail runs, is buzzing. And the sound and sequence of their only concert in Belgium, preceded by the discreet performance of the Chicago band Slow Pulpwas impeccable, with no less than eight songs from his latest album and up to five from his peak, “Transatlanticism” (2003). He lacked some volume while they started with “I Don’t Know How I Survive”, “The New Year” or “A Movie Script Ending”, but even that seemed premeditated to escalate the crescendo. Everything went from less to more. The good reception of “Here To Forever” and “Black Sun” showed that they have found a new, younger audience in the last decade. And from “Rand McNally” everything sounded more powerful and clear. Even halfway through the gig they have it perfectly conceived to shake the staff: Gibbard facing solo and acoustic “I Will Follow You Into The Dark” (picking the public in Antwerp with the argument that in Amsterdam they had accompanied him more vigorously) and the obsessive forcefulness of “I Will Possess Your Heart” ushering in the final stretch.
The last section cemented its charm in a thunderous “We Looked Like Giants”, the brilliant “The Sound Of Settling” and the new spoken word of “Foxglove Through The Clearcut”. And after the paripé of going out and in for the encore (of which Gibbard made a joke), final touch with the single from the book that was “Soul Meets Body” and the exciting coda that is always listening to the high of “Transatlanticism”, the song that the first Arcade Fire could have signed, with its author facing it sitting at the piano. Now, to wait for the tour that will commemorate this autumn in North America the year of Ben Gibbard’s grace, 2003, rescuing in its entirety “Give Up” (2003) from The Postal Service and its “Transatlanticism” (2003), is also extended to Europe.
