Death Cab for Cutie japan tour!

February 14th, Tokyo Studio Coast

It's been less than a year since I last saw Death Cab live, but it sure felt like a long time. Last time was in Sweden at the Arvika Festival. They were one of the headliners ie they played at the biggest stage and people were going crazy in the front. It was incredibly uncomfortable, so I moved further back where I could hardly see anything. Bummer.
This time however, I was just able to get the last spot at the front row where I did not only have a perfect view, but the crowd was fairly calm as well. Perfect circumstances, but did the band deliver? Of course.

Opening act was the japanese band Straightener. As DCFC have been labelled emotional rock, they sort of fit in the same category. The guitars weren't half bad, but the vocals and piano were more leaning towards straight-forward pop/rock. Especially the vocals kind of turned me off. Add to the fact that some of the songs were attempted to be sung in English, which basically means that it was nearly impossible to hear what was actually sung (except for simple frases like the chorus line "strike me with lightning"), and ultimately it became uninteresting. They only played for about 30 minutes though, although they seem to have quite a few songs in their back catalogue.

Immediately after they finished twelve people rushed on stage and started carrying out equipment faster than you can say "efficiency", and 20 minutes later the stage was ready for Death Cab. I've never seen anyone work that fast on a stage in Norway, especially not when there's only two bands on the bill. Of course it was better like this rather than waiting for one and a half hour while your being squeesed to pieces by the hungry crowd. Bless you, Japan.

Death Cab opened with "Bixby Canyon Bridge". The build-up towards the end works perfectly in a live setting, and it sort of set the standard for the rest of the concert. Studio Coast is not the best livehouse soundwise. In spite of being such a big place, the sound seems quite small, but luckily it wasn't half bad in the front. And for some reason I could hear Chris Walla's guitar incredibly well. The clear guitar sound made the impact even more raw than what I've seen before, and made songs like "Long Division", "the New Year", "I Will Possess Your Heart" and aforementioned opening track sound even more grandeur. In others words it was awesome. I guess the tracks off the latest album is more suited for a bigger format. It was an energetic show throughout the entire time though. I also have to add that Jason McGerr's drumming is impeccable.

They also played "Cath" and "Grapevine Fires" from Narrow Stairs. Personally I was hoping that they would also play a good number of tracks from their first albums, and sure enough, they played "Title Track" and "Company Calls" from We Have the Facts.. along with "Why'd You Want to Live Here" and "A Movie Script Ending" from the Photo Album. Their debut album Something About Airplanes was re-released last year, and they actually played two tracks off of it too.

They did all three singles from Plans. Fun fact of the day: During "Soul Meets Body" Chris Walla was on piano, and right in the middle of the song he added the piano part from Tegan and Sara's "Back In Your Head" (Walla produced their latest album the Con). He only played it once, but I'm 100% sure it was that one. Amusing.

They closed with "Transatlantisicm". I couldn't help but to be moved under that song (no tears though, mind you). It's truly a beautiful song. Enough said.

Admittedly I would have liked to hear songs like "Photobooth" and "No Sunlight" (which I know that they did in Nagoya and Osaka), but I guess you can't please everyone. I wouldn't have minded if they played for three hours though, and added "405", "What Sarah Said", "We Looked Like Giants", anything from Photo Album, some covers, Postal Service, Chris Walla's solo, Ben Gibbard covering Backstreet Boys...ahem. Anyways, it was a fantastic show.

http://www.deathcabforcutie.com/

Straightener's myspace: http://www.myspace.com/straightenerofficial

Lastly, this is a bit unrelated, but bassist Nick Harmer posted some stuff from Japan in his blog. Among other things he bought a gold suit at Tokyu Hands which has resulted in some funny pics.

I quote: "If you visit Japan and skip Tokyu Hands, I’d argue you missed Japan."

Read it here: http://colonycollapse.wordpress.com/