Death Cab for Cutie @ Radio City Concert Review

Death Cab for Cutie @ Radio City Music Hall, NY, NY. Monday, October 6, 2008, 8PM.

Last night, I had the most awesome and not so awesome concert experience of my life. The awesome- my favorite band Death Cab for Cutie's show at the spectacular venue that is Radio City. The not so awesome- having my concert buddy back out on me at the last minute (though he had a good reason), leaving me to attend the concert by myself. Ok, so I've always kinda wanted to go to a movie by myself. A concert at a major venue with thousands of people? Not so much. But surprisingly, it wasn't a bad experience. And that has a lot to do with the show that Death Cab put on.

I've never seen them in person, and with the seats I had, I can't really say that I know what they look like. =P But, once I got over the fact that I had an empty seat next to me, I got really into it. If you know Death Cab only through their albums, I think you'd be surprised at the amount of energy they bring to the stage. I would say that most of their songs are quiet. On stage, however, the songs are played louder and with more intensity than their catalog lets on. The lead singer Ben Gibbard exudes restless energy, jumping from his guitar to keyboard and back and forth. The songs are louder, more intense, and rock-ier than the recorded versions on the albums. I mean, this might have to do with the fact that Radio City is a HUGE venue, the biggest they've played in NY, and they needed to exude that sort of energy to reach people like me, all the way in the third mezzanine.

I was pleasantly surprised that they played a lot of old stuff. Some of my favorites, in fact. The New Year, Summer Skin, I Will Follow You into the Dark (solo performance by Ben, and with the whole 1000+ audience singing along to it, so amazing), Transatlanticism, The Sound of Settling, and my FAVORITE, Marching Bands of Manhattan. They of course also played songs from their new album Narrow Stairs, which included I Will Possess Your Heart (the crowd really went wild for this one), Bixby Canyon Bridge, Cath, Long Division. The ONLY thing I was sad about was that they didn't play Pity & Fear, which is my favorite song from the new album.

Also, I don't think many artists come out for an encore and play a 5-song set. I was sad when it ended, but didn't realize they'd be playing for another 20 minutes during the encore. It was like a second concert! Would I do it again, if I had to go to another one by myself? For Death Cab, absolutely. I hope you guys check out their stuff, especially their Plans album, which consistently gets played on my iPod. Maybe next time I'll have more people to go see them with?? :)