A sold out Palace Theatre is a great sight to see with balconies, stairs and levels upon levels of burgeoning fans finding their best suited position – it really gives a good impression of the size of a crowd and the appreciation for a band. Finding that position proved to be crucial too because the night’s main attraction would soon prove to be quite the act to watch. Death Cab For Cutie’s run of sold-out gigs in 2006 proved the band’s stellar reputation as a live act to be true, and this tour wasn’t about to change a thing.
The Palace Theatre was more-or-less full by the time Brisbaneites, An Horse appeared on stage, a result credited to the “put bands on as late as possible” policy. The duo seemed extremely well chosen for the opening set – which was proven later when Death Cab front man Ben Gibbard claimed they’d only come to Australia if they could play with An Horse – and made short work of warming the crowd with tunes played in a similar vein to the Seattle headliners. Keeping the crowd up to date on the numb status of her feet, singer Kate Cooper kept everyone smiling as the drum and guitar combo progressed through their great set of tunes.
Death Cab’s introduction music seemed almost like a cult chant as the dark stage became host to the four piece. Bixby Canyon Bridge began with its ringing guitars and the floor of the Palace immediately became a sea of cameras, desperate to film one of the new album’s best numbers. Death Cab were immediately animated, which seemed rather surprising considering Gibbard was energetically moving about before the song even climaxed. When the heavy drums did eventually come though, the band amped up their animation tenfold, with bassist Nicholas Harmer proving to be the most energetic of the crew with his back to the audience and doubled over his bass, thrusting in true rock star fashion. Following the strength of the opener, The New Year followed in more of the upbeat manner as the four continued to excite the packed house.
Technical problems seemed to be everywhere during the set’s early stages, with roadies spending almost as much time on stage as the band. Early during The New Year Gibbard even launched a faulty guitar at a roadie with a fuming look on his face. With the conclusion of the string of faster numbers and an eventual end to technical difficulties, Death Cab managed to continue relatively painlessly though and began moving back and forth between different tempo tracks.
The more subdued Summer Skin and I Will Follow You Into The Dark seemed to be more favoured as sing alongs – particularly the latter of the two, which Gibbard performed acoustically by himself as a dedication to An Horse. Whilst the crowd provided words to those numbers, Soul Meets Body and I Will Possess Your Heart seemed to energise them further, with many of the dead still crowd opting to finally move about a bit. The band played no radio edit for the second of these and included the complete introduction that alone is longer that the body of the song. The Sound of Settling concluded the set in spectacular fashion, with choruses of enormous “Ba Bas” being delivered throughout the entire venue.
Appearing back on stage, Death Cab delivered everyone’s favourite glove compartment song, Title and Registration, which again gained the voices of the crowd singing “The glove compartment isn’t accurately named / And everybody knows it.” Away from the quirk, Your Heart Is An Empty Room followed in a more serious fashion before Death Cab concluded with Transatlanticism, which moved perfectly into the massive climax that simultaneously attempted to blind and deafen the crowd – and boy did everyone appreciate that.
