Death Cab Show Kicks Off Tour In Toronto

Sound Academy

Toronto, ON

on Apr 5 2009

Sheena Lyonnais (CHARTattack)

04/06/2009 4:28pm

Death Cab For Cutie kicked off their almost entirely sold-out tour at Toronto's at-capacity Sound Academy on Sunday night to a crowd ranging from decade-long fans to braces-faced kids who either raided their older siblings' record collections or still love The O.C.'s Seth Cohen. The eclectic audience was a testament to Death Cab's ability to stay relevant and to the value of their captivatingly beautiful performances.

New York's Ra Ra Riot, a delightful yet inappropriately named co-ed concoction of rural indie rock, played the first note of the tour. Their set was poetic and unbroken, showing they've musically and mentally been able to move on after the tragic 2007 death of original drummer John Pike.

Ra Ra Riot soldiered through "Can You Tell" and "Dying Is Fine" with the passion and dedication of true professionals, and combined cellos and violins with pop-influenced guitar lines to create an opening worthy of great praise. They were intriguing and inviting, and I sense only the best for this young six-piece.

Cold War Kids stepped up the fun with their grunge-infused indie rock. This is the band responsible for deliciously infectious anthems "Hang Me Up To Dry" and "Something Is Not Right With Me," so I expected great things from them and they certainly delivered. Vocalist Nathan Willett pranced around the stage, switching between guitar and a noisy piano. While they were definitely well-rehearsed, they left the room for an unrefined urgency that added great pizzazz to their set.

Death Cab For Cutie began and finished with pure brilliance and mass applause. A solo Ben Gibbard rendition of "I Will Follow You Into The Dark" began a set of beauty and excellence with the timeless Death Cab classic "Transatlanticism" as its fellow, but predictable, bookend.

Death Cab and I had a falling out around the time they began generating mass airplay and landing spots on hit television shows like The O.C, mainly because "Soul Meets Body" never did it for me the way "The New Year" did. They played a song off their just-released The Open Door EP, but unfortunately at first listen it fell a little flat. I found myself worrying more about whether Mr. Sub would still be open at Union Station after the show (it wasn't) instead of falling in love.

This was redeemed quickly by an extended version of the forever creepy but eerily pretty "I Will Possess Your Heart." It came just before Gibbard hilariously discussed the notion of "human Twittering" in which he proceeded to give short updates of how he felt throughout the show, before announcing he was already bored with Twitter in the encore.

Bands like Death Cab have the potential to bomb live, considering how slow and moody many of their songs are, yet they manage to step it up and provide a refreshing amount of energy and swagger where many before have failed. They up the ante by adding new parts to old songs, switching versions and increasing the level of heart.

Death Cab's ability to continuously redefine themselves and extend their art in a live setting is why they still soar 11 years after their Something About Airplanes debut. Recorded versions don't do justice to these indie rock pioneers, whose set was easily one of the best I've seen this year.