Live Review: Death Cab for Cutie – Bonnaroo 2008
I think the most disappointing thing I experienced at Bonnaroo (other than Kanye totally disrespecting not only the entire Bonnaroo community but the entire music community) was the major conflict on Sunday. As I mentioned in my review of Narrow Stairs, Broken Social Scene’s main set and Death Cab for Cutie’s only set overlapped by 30 minutes. To make matters worse, the “Other” tent (where BSS was playing their main set) was running about 30 minutes behind.
Panic sets in! On one hand, Broken Social Scene was putting on an incredible show, and was promising to play until they were dragged off stage. On the other hand, I didn’t want to chance missing any of the new Death Cab songs I knew they would break out early in their set.
And then there was a sign… About an hour into their incredible set Broken Social Scene played “Anthem for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl”, one of my favorite songs. This was icing on the cake which was already iced, so BiggieC and I made a break for Death Cab for Cutie.
We made it to the “What” stage while they were finishing up their fourth song of their set, “Crooked Teeth” from Plans. This was just in time to catch my favorite song (so far) of Narrow Stairs “Long Division”. While they didn’t break out into the uber-jam I was hoping for, Chris Walla let it hang out just a little bit on the synth for those who wanted to squeeze every last ounce of party out of the waning festival.
Death Cab split their set between their two most recent albums Narrow Stairs and Plans with older songs (but nothing pre- We Have the Facts and We’re Voting Yes). Throughout the set the band stayed tight and preformed at the level their fans have come expect night after night. Highlights for me included “Cath..”, “Company Calls”, and “I Will Possess Your Heart”.
As my first Bonnaroo experience drew to a close my bitterness toward Bonnaroo’s for overlapping Broken Social Scene and Death Cab for Cutie faded. What did I really have complain about? I had been treated to two of my favorite bands in just a manner of hours. As the sun set over Manchester, TN Death Cab closed out an epic 4 days of music with their most epic song, “Transatlanticism”. It was indeed a “Movie Script Ending”.
- Posted by Anne Reade on June 18, 2008 at 6:56 pm
