TQS Staff
There’s a swell of anticipation before Death Cab take the stage, it’s been three years almost to the day since their last gig in Scotland and five since their last gig in Glasgow in the altogether too sweaty Barrowlands.
Death Cab have come a long way since then. Their albums Transatlanticism and Plans were on many critics list of albums of the decade, they’ve had a song for one of the biggest movies in recent years with Meet Me On The Equinox appearing in the movie Twilight: New Moon. The bands’ latest albums Narrow Stairs and Codes and Keys have seen a bit of a tonal shift from the band, they’ve found themselves a bigger sound no more so apparent than I Will Possess Your Heart from the rather brilliant Narrow Stairs.
So it was with no real surprise that I Will Possess Your Heart was the opening track, it is a fantastic song and one of the most popular of the night with Ben Gibbard dropping his guitar with a thud to take over piano keyboard duties his hair swinging along to the beat like a metronome. Soon enough the lyrics kick and so does the crowd.
After a quick bit of banter about how glad they all are to be back in Scotland they start on a career spanning gig, giving the audience what they’ve been waiting five years for. With tracks from Narrow Stairs, Plans, Codes and Keys and the incredibly underrated We Have The Facts And We’re Voting Yes.
It was very little surprise that Death Cab broke into fan favourite I Will Follow You Into The Dark, a haunting beautiful track and the crowd have no hesitation joining in. Stopping and looking around the audience you can tell that everyone is thinking the same thing, that this is a special band on a very special night.
In a set that ends up going over the two hour mark Death Cab really seem to have not fully realised their importance, they all seem very humble when they go up to the mic to chat with the crowd. It’s somewhat refreshing in the days of TV karaoke contests that hand out record deals that there are still bands like Death Cab For Cutie.
Summer Skin and Marching Bands Of Manhattan close out the set with Summer Skin and they just about take the stage with them a spectacular sight for those of us that have been waiting a long time to see this band live.
They come back for their encore to rapturous applause from those who have stuck around and go into a slow almost acoustic version of Lack of Colour from the album Transatlanticism as well as the track of the same name it’s the perfect end to the best gig I’ve been to this year, an outstanding experience.
5/5
Review by Matthew Foran
