I Was There: Death Cab For Cutie, 10/12

[Death Cab For Cutie with So Many Dynamos at Assembly Hall on 10/12/08]

This isn’t Ryan Groff’s little brother — it’s Ben Gibbard. Oh, you wanna see these photos. Click the jump for a review!

Photos by: Steve Goodwine

So Many Dynamos:

The opening band So Many Dynamos got chummy with the crowd by saying “Thanks, friends” in between each pop-punk song. The band, comprised of four young guys with masks of flippy hair and tight jeans, flopped around so much during their set that I worried they might have a collectively broken ankle. So Many Dynamos should be applauded for their insatiable energy, and that their glorified screamo music ended up making a few friends. — Erin Gillman

Death Cab for Cutie:

(Yep. That’s Ben Gibbard.)

When Death Cab finally made their way to the stage, I was jolted from my seat by Ben Gibbard’s appearance. He lost his coffee shop charm , trading it in for a sleeker, more pedophilic look. No beard, no glasses, no endearingly meek glances. All that remains is a chin-length ‘do parted down the middle, mutton chops and some tucked in flannel.

Death Cab got things going with “The New Year”, and Gibbard surprised with his fancy footwork, though everyone on stage moonwalked their way around throughout the set. “We Laugh Indoors” came next, followed by “Crooked Teeth” from the Plans which, for such a cheery song, garnered no crowd dancing. Will they dance for anything? Let’s see:

(Dance Tally: 3)

“Soul Meets Body” was received with rapturous audience participation, but still not much dancing.

(Dance Tally: 1 ginger in the front row; violent head bobs ran amok.)

Gibbard dedicated “I Will Follow You Into the Dark” to everyone in the crowd who isn’t in love, and played a beautiful, solo version of the song. The band addressed the audience’s lack of movement before “Sound of Settling”, managing to get a few more people to cut a rug, but overall the audience continued with its Sunday night submission.

(Dance Tally: Began strong around 54, tapered off around 10.)

Death Cab started playing another song, only to be cut short by Gibbard interjecting that he “fucked up,” reason being that…his guitar wasn’t plugged in. Overall, the night was enjoyable, but very predictable — it wasn’t bad, but was almost identical to their records. Case in point: the band ended their encore with “Transatlanticism,” just as they have for most of their shows in the past five years. It just makes me think I would have had just as much fun sitting at home with my $4 concession stand Diet Coke and Death Cab albums, especially with the lack of a rabid superfan behind me and overly cocky security guards.

— Erin Gillman