Due to traffic, I ended up missing the first part of the /- set. From what I did see, I was impressed. Sort of. They reminded me of a mix between Dismemberment Plan and Death Cab For Cutie, only, they just made me respect both bands even more. I think they're worth checking out. They were really tight on stage and sounded great.
Next up was Ben Kweller. He continued to fail to impress me. First of all, every instrument he played was turned up way too loud compared to the rest of the band. When he played acoustic guitar, all you could hear was the pick hitting the strings. His set was boring. You could tell a lot of people were there just to see "Wasted and Ready." He played songs off his upcoming album. Basically, it sounds like he listened to some AC/DC and Neil Young, then tried to incorporate it into his Weezer rip-off shceme. Boo-urns. After sitting through his way too long set, it was time for Death Cab For Cutie.
Now, I never was a big Death Cab fan before. In fact, I used to hate this band. Long story short, I love this band now. My favorite part about this band is that in their live shows, they like to mix things up a little bit. They played "We Laugh Indoors" a bit slower than usual, they played a long extended outro to "We Looked Like Giants," and an amazing version of "Transatlanticism." They only problem with their set was the drummer dropped his stick during "Styrofoam Plates" during the breakdown, and then the bass was off for the rest of the song. They closed with "Blacking Out The Friction" in a way I never heard before. The drums didn't even come in until the second verse, and then after the song, they transitioned it into a slow, really good version of Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun." Amazing. Here was the set list:
The New Year
We Laugh Indoors
Title and Registration
Photobooth
President of What?
Expo '86
Lightness
Company Calls
Company Calls Epilogue
The Sound of Settling
Transatlanticism
encore:
A Movie Script Ending
Blacking out the Friction/Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
This was my third time seing them live, and absolutely the best.