Death Cab For Cutie is one of those bands that have always been in my periphery: a band that I’ve been aware of for many years, but never quite breaking into my main focus until recently. Part of me wonders why I took so long to check them out, considering that their debut album is two years older than I am. Their 11th studio album, I Built You A Tower, released earlier this year drew me in with its talk of emotion and grief. The tour for the album brought the band back to the UK, and back to Manchester three years after the last planned show was cancelled due to frontman Ben Gibbard falling ill.
There’s no doubt that Pool Kids were an energetic and enthusiastic opening band. Their math rock styling was upbeat and a good pairing to warm up the audience for the main event. The venue itself did not do many favours for them, unfortunately. I had heard from friends that the sound at the O2 Victoria Warehouse was questionable, to put it lightly, and this was confirmed to me as I shot in the pit. Lead singer Christine Goodwyne was often drowned out by the rest of her band, but in the moments when the instruments were stripped back, it was clear she was a talented performer with a beautiful voice.
A majority of the songs from I Built You A Tower appear on the setlist, although their setlist made callbacks to much of their discography (‘the oldies, we have oldies now’, as Gibbard stated at one point). Part of me wishes that more of the album was on the setlist, if not all of it, as I often do when I find myself at a concert attached to an album. However, having a discography reaching back nearly 3 decades must make it a difficult job to balance the new with the old, so I commend the balance that they’ve managed to find.
Death Cab For Cutie’s show was an upbeat and full of energy, the feel of the instruments often juxtaposed by the lyrics. A mid-set slower section found Gibbard playing solo as he dedicated I Will Follow You Into The Dark to The Stone Roses for setting him on his musical path. He led the crowd into singing a chorus without him, which left me an unexpected emotional impact. There’s something about seeing, hearing, a crowd united by a band and all singing the same song together.
At nearly two hours long, their set fell on the longer side of shows that I’ve been to. I could easily imagine it going longer if they wanted to. Something I hadn’t seen prior to this show was the rather lengthy encore. In my experience, most bands will choose one or two songs for an encore, with some foregoing an encore entirely. Death Cab For Cutie’s encore spanned to four songs, which was not something that I had expected. The typical chants of ‘one more song’ from the crowd were absent, so I had the feeling that this may have been an established encore, typical for the band.
Despite the O2 Victoria Warehouse itself introducing flaws in their sound in parts of the hall, it was clear that this did not put off the fans, nor did it put off the number of people who were there for the first time. Between the latest album and the show I watched, I have found myself wanting to try to catch them the next time they swing around to play near me, when I’ve hopefully explored more of their discography for myself.
I Built You A Tower is available now to listen to in all the usual places, or catch them (and Pool Kids!) at one of their remaining UK tour dates:
Sep 23: The Prospect Building, Bristol
Sep 25 + 26th: Troxy, London
Sep 27th: De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill on Sea
Death Cab For Cutie: Website | Facebook | Instagram | Bandcamp
Pool Kids: Website | Facebook | Instagram | Bandcamp
Photos + words by Ace Cheng
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