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Death Cab For Cutie
Youth Group
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In The Venue
Salt Lake City, UT
10/07/2005
By: Meagan Rockne
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Making their way on to the stage to a mixture of polite and
enthusiastic applause was Youth Group. They're Australian,
they have a tendency to sound a bit like Nada Surf,
Reuben's Accomplice and Justin Sconza, they sound better
live than on their CD and they look like extras from the
1980's cult film, Real Genius.
Headlining the show is the current music industry "It" band,
Death Cab For Cutie. I still find it hard for a band that has
been around as long as DCFC to suddenly be all over
magazines. But I guess that's what happens when you are
on heavy rotation on The OC.
The lights dimmed and the band took to the stage with a
massive amount of applause. If it weren't for the applause, I
probably would have confused them for roadies. They don't
look like a band that is skyrocketing to stardom. They look
like bankers or cashiers or, in lead singer Ben Gibbard's
case, a UPS deliveryman - he was dressed head-to-toe in
brown.
The band opened with Plans opener, "Marching
Bands Of Manhattan." This seemed to set the mood for the
night - some old favorites mixed with songs off their current
album. A DCFC show is different from their CDs. The band is
perceived to be mellow, introspective, indie rock drips, but
their live show is full of energy, culminating in awkward
dancing and sweatiness. When you go to a DCFC show, it's
easy to get lost in the music. As Ben Gibbard sings, you
forget that you're standing in the midst of a sold-out crowd.
That's a very rare and special quality for a band. To snap
out of your Death Cab-induced trance, you only need to look
at bassist, Nick Harmer, who plays the world's biggest bass -
or at least it appeared that way to me - and has the most
awkward hunched-over-while-playing-an-instrument dancing
style that I have ever seen.
Closing the set was "Sound Of Settling," which got the crowd
moving and dancing. I kind of wish that the band had played
this song earlier just to get the momentum going. They left
the stage to huge applause that sustained until Ben, alone,
came back on and sang "I Will Follow You into the Dark," a
haunting love ballad off Plans. The band joined
him for two more songs and then left for good.
When a band plays to a sold out crowd, like tonight, they are
playing to the converted. They could have played Barry
Manilow covers and jump-rope songs and the crowd would
still have loved it. Overall, it was an impressive night. At
times, it felt more like a sing-a-long then a concert - all that
was missing were the lyrics projected behind the band.
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