Death Cab at Rock City 15/11 Part Two

When Death Cab for Cutie toured the UK this summer it was easy to see how teen soap endorsement and major label success had engulfed a band with once such indie sensibilities. Lost on a stage at Manchester Apollo was a band that, however gifted, could have been as far away as Orange County.

Tonight, Nottingham’s Rock City, with its dark cave-like walls, a venue usually more Kerrang! than Under the Radar, presents the perfect setting for a more intimate return trip. There’s an eerie silence as the lights go down and the smoke thickens. A fight almost breaks out in the audience, but as Death Cab take to the stage, all is forgotten.

Seemingly more at home on a smaller stage, the band begins the set with a selection of old songs, proving that this time, they’re here to please rather than to promote. The Employment Pages is followed by the beautiful Your Heart is an Empty Room and Transatlanticism opener, The New Year.

Six songs in and Narrow Stairs finally gets its moment. The catchy No Sunlight brings guitarist Chris Walla to the microphone and what seems like a million enthusiastic camera phones are launched into the air.

During Grapevine Fires the crowd sing word for word to a song now widely appreciated as one of the best the band have written, a touching narrative from a band famous for putting as much emphasis on story as melody. As the song reaches its climax the crowd take over and vocalist Ben Gibbard smiles approvingly.

I Will Follow You Into the Dark, a haunting song of death and devotion is followed by the first single from Narrow Stairs, I Will Possess Your Heart, a beautiful yet disturbing tale which builds with almost five minutes of instrumentalism to the opening line: “How I wish you could see the potential/the potential of you and me…”

This time around there’s a much more eclectic setlist. Sure, Narrow Stairs and its breakthrough predecessor Plans get much of the attention, but songs from Transatlanticism, the band’s final release for Barsuk, feature alongside older songs, Company Calls, Technicolor Girls and Why You’d Want to Live Here.

The crowd anticipate an encore but the band keep them waiting until the stamping, clapping and chanting reaches a peak and the venue’s floor vibrates alarmingly. Death Cab reappear, bemused at the crowd’s reaction, and reward them with another four songs.

Fan favourite Expo ’86 becomes, for many of the audience, the evening’s highlight, before the show closes with the slow-burning Transatlanticism. The crowd stand in awe as Gibbard alternates between guitar and keyboard, slowly building to the songs climatic conclusion: “I need you so much closer.”

On a freezing Saturday evening, Death Cab for Cutie stand before me the band I always knew they were. From ten feet away I can see the passion and dedication that has made them the most loved band of their generation. I can even see the shine on Chris Walla’s impeccably kept blonde hair.

All photos are by Lucy Bridger. Visit her blog here.