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.

Death Cab at Rock City 15/11 Part One

Last night Nicola and I saw Death Cab for Cutie for the second time in four months. It was a completely different experience to the rainy July day when we journeyed to Manchester Apollo. On a cold November evening, Rock City was more subtle, more intimate. Like two different bands with one singer.

Setlist

The Employment Pages
Your Heart Is an Empty Room
New Year
Why You’d Want to Live Here
Crooked Teeth
No Sunlight
Grapevine Fires
Summer Skin
Soul Meets Body
I Will Follow You Into the Dark
I Will Possess Your Heart
Cath…
We Looked Like Giants
Company Calls
Long Division
The Sound of Settling

Technicolor Girls
Title and Registration
Expo ‘86
Transatlanticism

World Vegan Month

There was a time when being vegetarian was seen as unusual, but as November's World Vegan Month campaigners are pleased to boast - these days almost 10 per cent of us are following a vegetarian diet.

Ten years ago it was estimated that two million Britons were vegetarian, a number that has since doubled. And this may be down to the current wave of high profile vegetarians in the media.

A whole host of musicians, actors and designers are now proud to be following a meat-free diet.

Actors Gwyneth Paltrow, Pamela Anderson, Natalie Portman and Jude Law are all vegetarians. As well as Gwyneth’s husband Coldplay’s Chris Martin and fellow musicians Moby, Death Cab’s Chris Walla and Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes. Not to mention designers Stella McCartney and Sadie Frost.

Some stars have even decided to make a public stand against the meat industry. Pamela Anderson has developed her own animal friendly fashion range and Stella McCartney’s faux leather boots have been seen on Victoria Beckham.

Animal Rights charity Peta has caught on to this trend, using both Walla and Oberst to front ‘Go Veg’ campaigns through their youth website Peta2. Walla declared, “Factory farming is just disgusting. All you have to do is look at a couple photographs and it’s not that hard to figure out.”

While many people go vegetarian for ethical and compassionate reasons, it’s also becoming known as the healthy option.

The Vegetarian Society, the charity responsible for the logos you see on veggie food, classes a vegetarian as someone who does not eat any meat, poultry, game, fish, shellfish or crustacean, or slaughter by-products such as gelatine (which is made from animal bones) or animal fats.

The society argue that there is much scientific evidence to indicate vegetarians may be healthier than meat-eaters – saying a well balanced vegetarian diet can provide all the nutrients your body needs as well as being low in saturated fat and high in the protective minerals and vitamins found in fruit and vegetables.

It is also claimed that statistically vegetarians are thinner than carnivores and tend to lose weight more easily.

However, the Department of Health stress the importance of replacing the nutrients present in meat. A lack of zinc, iron and protein, essential for a healthy immune system, can cause anaemia - especially in women. Seeds, grains and pulses make an excellent alternative.

It is predicted that the number of vegetarians will continue to rise and could triple over the next decade.

As the production of vegetarian food brands increases and with the support of such famous advocates, it is not surprising more and more people are choosing nut roast over beef roast. No wonder Stella McCartney proudly admits, “Nobody cool eats meat anymore.”

Mystic Valley Band in Birmingham

When Conor Oberst announced he was embarking on a solo project his fan base gasped at the prospect. For a man who was essentially already a solo artist under the moniker Bright Eyes, what could be the reason for shelving such an already successful project?

Leaving behind long time friend and collaborator Mike Mogis, Oberst assembled a new band of musicians and headed to Mexico for the two month recording session that would give birth to his debut solo effort, the eponymously titled Conor Oberst.

Just a few short weeks after the albums release Oberst and his ramshackle band of musicians, the Mystic Valley Band (named after the magical Mexican valley where the album was recorded) arrived in Birmingham for what would be the start of their first brief but successful trip to the UK.

Flanked by Bright Eyes instrumentalist Nate Walcott, Maria Taylor’s brother Macey and Taylor Hollingsworth on guitars, and Rilo Kiley’s Jason Boesel on drums, the newly created Mystic Valley Band looked like Oberst’s usual wonderful army of friends and musicians, but this new incarnation possess a greater air of maturity and sophistication

“At the bottom of everything…” pleads one desperate Bright Eyes fan from the crowd at the more intimate than usual Carling Academy 2. But from the moment Oberst steps onstage it’s clear that Bright Eyes is a project most definitely on hiatus and any requests, no matter how desperate, fall on deaf ears.

Album opener Sausalito kicks off the set, followed by Get Well Cards and Moab. Then the band strips it down for the records ballads, Lenders In The Temple and Eagle On A Pole. A uncomfortable silence overcomes the audience while Obersts voice quivers and trails off, a welcome sign that at least one aspect of Bright Eyes turned up for the gig.

No longer the skinny teenager hiding behind his famous fringe, Oberst stands up to the microphone with all the confidence ten years of success has brought him, and as a man no longer intimidated by his own talent. When Oberst announces Birmingham is Hollingsworth’s hometown the crowd cheer approvingly a cheeky smile rolls over the singer’s face. Unbeknown to his audience, Hollingsworth is actually from Birmingham, Alabama, and the once so serious boy from Nebraska has just got them good.

As the set comes to as close it’s clear that this now solo, solo artist has only grown with the experience. Tracks I Don’t Want To Die (In The Hospital) and the single Souled Out!! are performed with a previously unseen ferocity and provide the perfect end to the show. Oberst jumps on an amp and blows kisses into the audience before disappearing backstage, leaving his Mystic Valley Band to say goodnight. Bright Eyes has left the building.

Under Re-construction

Back Soon!

Happy New Year

Thank you to Lizzy from Marching Stars distro for sending me this review, featured in Toronto Zine Library's zine.