Youth Group was a good pick to support Death Cab For Cutie. Their mellow sounds compliment Death Cab’s melancholy tunes, and they did well to gear the crowd up for the main act. That is, if the crowd actually turned up. Youth Group did receive a pitiful turn out for most of their set, but they did manage to pull a mass towards the end. Stand outs were definitely their more fast-paced tunes, Shadowland and Skeleton Jar, which were consequently played at the end. However, their once widely popular hit Forever Young was received with almost boredom, with lead singer Toby Martin choosing to further slow down the already leisurely paced song. Overall it was a relaxing set that put everyone in a reflective mood, ready to ponder on whatever Death Cab were going to propose to us.

The crowd did not have to wait long to be blown away. Within half an hour of Youth Group finishing, Ben Gibbard silently walks on stage and treats the quietened audience to a solo of I Will Follow You Into The Dark. In no time the audience breaks out of their muted trance and greets Gibbard with his own lyrics, belting it out and drowning him out. The next song is no exception, as the rest of the band takes the stage and launches into the epic I Will Possess Your Heart. The build-up is intense, but the singalong continues as soon as Gibbard opens his mouth. The crowd has expert timing (shame about their pitch).

The rest of the set continues like this- a mixture of ultimate Singstar on one end of the spectrum, and awe-inspired silence on the other. There are moments in the set where I can feel my fellow audience members’ brains ticking away as the music washes over them, reminiscing their past and fiercely relating to the lyrics through the outlet of song. One girl takes it too far- she seems to be in pain while shouting every single word back to the band. But that’s okay, Gibbard’s heavenly voice tends to have that effect on people.

Lead guitarist/keyboardist/backing vocals/extraordinaire Chris Walla is a treat to watch, showing he puts everything he can into every performance, playing his instruments with such passion that he breaks a string three songs into the set, abruptly changes guitar and then expertly picks up where he left off without a worry. There are moments where his multitasking should deserve its own applause. There is one point where Walla manages to sing, play the keys and play the guitar at the same time, without drawing attention to himself.

The band seesaws between old and new songs- satisfying both old and new fans. Besides the obvious crowd favourites (i.e. Soul Meets Body), the real stand-outs were The New Year and Transatlanticism.

From their new album, Narrow Stairs, Grapevine Fires and Cath were definite favourites, with Grapevine Fires receiving particular appreciative applause- the lyrics being very relevant to the recent Victorian bushfires. It really struck a chord with the audience- most people chose to mouth the words rather than sing along. The final lines had particular resonance,‘the firemen worked in double shifts, with prayers for rain on their lips, but they knew it was only a matter of time’. No hollow claps for that one.

For the finale, Bixby Canyon Bridge is last on the cards. This is a great song that encompasses the band’s anthemic sound, and one which will carry on the afterglow well after the night is finished.

Australia has received a double dose of Death Cab in the space of just few months, but we just can’t seem to get enough. With both shows selling out, it seems they might just need to schedule another to keep their down under fans satisfied. Fingers crossed.