DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE

Perth Festival Gardens
Saturday, February 18, 2012

From those humble days in Bellingham, even the members of Death Cab For Cutie would never have expected that they would one day be regarded as one of the most consistent live bands going around. The band clearly take their live show seriously as they recreate their records with ease from their alcohol free stage where they ensure that as a punter, you always know what you are going to get.

The givens of a Death Cab For Cutie show are that Nick Harmer will be dressed in black jeans and polo shirt as he gyrates with his bass guitar, Jason McGerr will bring his rare combination of precision and personality from behind his drum kit, Ben Gibbard will put on a clinic of how pop songs should be sung and Chris Walla will change instruments and maintain a perfect tone. The detail of the set list may change from show to show but you can pretty much guarantee that The New Year will get an early running and the majority of the crowd will sing along loudly and out of tune to I Will Follow You Into The Dark.
Since their last tour, Ben Gibbard has moved to the centre of the stage to take up the more traditional role for a front person, cut his hair to resemble an indie-rock page boy and discarded his spectacles. As this was the second offering in a two night stay, Gibbard indicated that they would be varying up the set list a little. He was true to his word when Death Cab For Cutie opened with the slow burn of the rarely heard No Joy In Mudville and throughout delved into the The Open Door EP for Little Bribes.
The hits would come out later in the set, but it was hard to go past the cracking take on Long Division with McGerr effortlessly rolling out a chunk of stylish fills. For a band with such pop smarts it is the slower more spacious tunes where they make their biggest splash and again this was the case when Gibbard moved to the keyboard for Codes And Keys and Different Name For The Same Place.
The crowd started to show their increasing appreciation when the pulsating bass line signalled the beginning of an epic version of I Will Possess Your Heart. In a similar vein, new favourite You Are A Tourist has a stadium filling feel to it, before a sizeable portion of somewhat throw away radio friendly tunes were mixed in with Movie Script Ending and Blacking Out The Friction. Having learnt their lesson from omitting both tunes on their last tour to Perth, Death Cab For Cutie went to the album that made them major label players and featured on TV with Tiny Vessels and Transatlanticism being a fitting ending. Death Cab For Cutie gave another quality, polished performance of the standard that we have come to expect from a group that leave very little to chance.

_CHRIS HAVERCROFT