Death Cab Inspire Massive Love Fest On Olympic Island

Despite The Weather Network threatening thunder showers all weekend, it was a beautiful day for Saturday's love fest on Olympic Island. I arrived on the island about midway through Rogue Wave's set. As I approached the concert area, "Publish My Love" was bleeding out of the speakers to a relaxed and happy crowd. It was still pretty hot during their early evening set, and much of the audience was sitting on the grass letting the music wash over them.

All that changed when Montreal indie darlings Stars took the stage. Everyone quickly jumped to their feet and hollered for the quintet fronted by Torquil Campbell and Amy Millan. While sticking mostly to material from their latest release, last year's In Our Bedroom After The War, the band also delved into gems from 2004's Set Yourself On Fire, including "Ageless Beauty," "Your Ex-Lover Is Dead" and "Reunion," and even broke out a little "Elevator Love Letter" from 2003's Heart.

Stars played up their romantic leanings with a lavishly decorated stage and mic stands covered in roses. The love fest was intensified as the musicians randomly threw flowers into the crowd throughout their set and petals flew in the air.

Before Stars finished their set and walked off stage one by one, they invited opening bands Young Galaxy and Rogue Wave back to sing "In Our Bedroom After The War."

But the love didn't end there. By the time Death Cab For Cutie were due on stage, the crowd had swelled and was completely enraptured by the Washington quartet. (Side note: Frontman Ben Gibbard has lost a ton of weight, to the point where I didn't recognize him. He has also ditched the horn-rimmed glasses and was wearing all-black clothes and sporting big sideburns, which I was a little sad about.)

They opened with "Bixby Canyon Bridge," the first song on the recently released Narrow Stairs. While Death Cab incorporate new material into their set list, they never rely on it for their shows, and as always, they dipped into a wide array of songs spanning their 10-year career. Highlights included "Company Calls" followed by its counterpart, "Company Calls (Epilogue)," from We Have The Facts And We're Voting Yes, which I'd never seen them play back to back. They reached even further back to "Your Bruise" from 1998's Something About Airplanes.

While they were playing really well, Death Cab tightened up even more mid-set during "I Will Possess Your Heart," the unnecessarily long lead single from Narrow Stairs. The song fares much better in a live setting than it does on the album, and much of the new material came off really strong, including "Cath..." and "Long Division."

Gibbard kept the stage banter to a minimum, but took time to comment on the other bands on the bill. He called his current tour mates Rogue Wave "keen," and gushed about Stars, their former tour buddies, saying their reunion was a special treat and wished it could happen more often.

Gibbard dedicated singles "I Will Follow You Into The Dark" and "Soul Meets Body" from their platinum-selling Plans to both bands. While you'd expect the obligatory audience singalongs during these songs, many audience members also belted out lyrics to lesser known tracks. The best, of course, was during the epic closer "Transatlanticism," when everyone was yelling the repetitive "Come on" in unison. A large group of people in front of me even put their arms on each other's shoulders, making a massive line, and swayed back and forth to the entire eight-minute song.

The whole event was a big love-in from start to finish. There was a great vibe surrounding the entire thing. Maybe it was the sunshine that was finally declaring summer weather, or maybe it was the fact that everyone had a chance to escape the insanity of downtown Toronto for a few hours. Whatever it was, I wasn't complaining. It was the friendliest group of people I'd ever encountered in the city — I talked to more Torontonians in that one night than I have in the three years I've lived here. I still had a smile smeared across my face even as we were herded like cattle into the ferry and back to the city.