If You Let Me be Your Skyline, I’ll Let You Be the Wave
Ben Gibbard and crew made an amazing return to Indianapolis on May 31st at the TCU Amphitheater at White River State Park, along with special guest Lomelda, on a beautifully rain-cooled evening with one of the most beautiful golden hours we’ve had so far this year.
Death Cab is currently in the last leg of their Asphalt Pavement tour, with Indy being their first stop in the US after a brief break following their super busy winter/spring residency in Europe.
Joining them for the first time tonight was Lomelda, the stage name of enigmatic indie-alt performer Hannah Read. Normally I am very critical of bands/performers who lack stage presence, but Read was so charming that it more than made up for things. Bonus points for the quick anecdote by Ben about two-thirds of the way into the show when he thanked Lomelda for accepting their proposal to tour; Ben discovered her music and listened to it extensively during Quarantine.
If You’ve Got an Impulse, Let it Out
I’ve loved Death Cab for Cutie since I first discovered them, right around the time they released Plans. My first iPod had “Crooked Teeth” and “Title and Registration” on heavy rotation, and we will not mention the amount of times I had Death Cab song featured on my MySpace page.
Needless to say, seeing them live was an absolute bucket list item for me and this performance was everything I was hoping it would be and more.
This year, 2023, marks the 20th anniversary of the release of Transatlanticism, and the set list was partially songs from the new album, but the majority was hits from the past (Later this year, Ben Gibbard is reuniting with Jimmy Tamborello and Jenny Lewis to do a run of double header performances of both Transatlanticism and his supergroup, The Postal Service’s 2003 album Give Up).
Death Cab is a band whose still has not necessarily changed very much over time, they have just gotten tighter and more polished.
The band started out strong with “I Don’t Know How I Survive”, the first track on Asphalt Meadows. I kept looking out for Gibbard’s high note at the end of each chorus, but unfortunately it did not come. He had 20+ more songs after this one though, so it was clearly a matter of preserving his voice.
Interspersed between the new album tracks were old crowd favorites, including an emotionally charged acoustic solo rendition of “I Will Follow You into the Dark” that I know many people were tearing up during, myself included.
But get you a man like Ben Gibbard who can do both, because he immediately followed that up with an energetic and frantic “I Will Possess Your Heart”.
The crowd here was definitely very diverse in terms of age and everyone started to seem a little tired by the time we reached the title track “Asphalt Meadows”, but everyone kept their spirits high nonetheless. Just two tracks later, we were treated to “We Looked like Giants”, which featured a killer long and riffy guitar solo from Dave Depper.
The show closed out with “Foxglove through the Clearcut”, which Gibbard described as a sort of bedtime story; I definitely got a Killers-meets-spoken-word vibe from it in the best way.
This was followed up with a four song encore, including the perennial crowd favorite “Soul Meets Body”.
The Good
So many different types of people from all generations and walks of life were in attendance and it was so nice to see people in their 60s singing and dancing to the music as well as young parents who grew up on Death Cab introducing it to their kids for the first time. Very wholesome.
I loved the skew toward older tracks, specifically the ones from Transatlanticism, but I also really enjoyed all of the new songs as well!
Although Gibbard is an absolute powerhouse, he did not at any point upstage any of his bandmates, which is a skill that many lead singers need to learn.
The Not-as-Good
Nothing. This show was 10/10 no notes.
The Setlist:
- I Don’t Know How I Survive
- Roman Candles
- The New Year
- Cath…
- A Movie Script Ending
- Here to Forever
- Black Sun
- Northern Lights
- I Miss Strangers
- Crooked Teeth
- Rand McNally
- I Will Follow You Into the Dark
- I Will Possess Your Heart
- Your Heart Is an Empty Room
- Asphalt Meadows
- The Ghosts of Beverly Drive
- We Looked Like Giants
- The Sound of Settling
- Foxglove Through the Clearcut
- Brothers on a Hotel Bed (Encore)
- Pepper (Encore)
- Soul Meets Body (Encore)
- Transatlanticism (Encore)
The Lineup:
Death Cab for Cutie – Ben Gibbard, Nick Harmer, Jason McGerr, Dave Depper, Zac Rae
Lomelda – Lomelda (Hannah Read), Adan Carlo