Death Cab

Death Cab for Cutie is one of those bands that I've liked since high school that have gone from indie to not-so-indie-anymore. And while some might have turned their sights from the band as the masses latched on, I'm still very much a fan of Ben and the gang, and was really happy to find out that they would be performing nearby.

Death Cab performed Friday night at the Edinburgh Corn Exchange just about 15 minutes out of the city centre. The venue was nice enough. A Glass House sized hall nestled between a row of town houses (I sort of feel bad for the residents) and an ASDA (that would be the UK version of Wal-Mart). DCfC being such a popular band, I expected the venue to be arena-sized, but we were actually pretty close to everything.

The opener was a Scottish band called Frightened Rabbit, who seemed pretty popular with the local crowd. I only knew one of their songs...but enjoyed their catchy shrieking nevertheless. ('I Feel Better' was especially good.)

Death Cab themselves were very good. What was interesting, I thought, was the nonchanlance with which Ben Gibbard and the band made their way to the stage. For one of the biggest singers/songwriters in the past five or so years, they did not act like it. (He even traded in his trademark horn-rimmed glasses for contacts?!) No theatrics, just music. They barrelled through about an hour and a half of their more well-known tracks, starting with 'Bixby Canyon Bridge' off of their Narrow Stairs album and ending their encore with 'Transatlanticism.' The high point: the crowd joining Gibbard and his guitar for a hushed, almost transcendant version of 'I Will Follow You Into the Dark.'