Death Cab for Cutie

Zilker Park, Sept. 24

In a striped T-shirt, bowl cut, and rosy cheeks, Ben Gibbard looked more like Peter Pan than a rock star. Death Cab for Cutie took the stage to thousands of screams with Plans opener “Marching Bands of Manhattan.” Struggling through much of that new release but gaining more voices on tracks from their last triumph, Transatlanticism, DCFC either felt the weight of a million shows or else the completely non-Seattle temperatures stole the exuberance typically felt from Gibbard’s posse. After a quick lecture on heat stroke from guitarist Chris Walla, Death Cab launched into The Photo Album‘s “We Laugh Indoors,” and as Gibbard’s face became more and more flush so did the music. Transatlanticism‘s “The New Year” and “Title and Registration” mingled with newbies “Soul Meets Body” and “Different Names for the Same Thing,” but the introspection of the new album was mostly left backstage. A lackluster performance doesn’t signify the beginning of the end for the indie rock favorites, but after putting out an album centered around death and loneliness, maybe it’s time to take a break from the festival circuit. After all, Peter Pan would never allow something like a little heat to interfere with his fun.

This article appears in September 30 • 2005.

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