Death Cab for Cutie Is Born Again at the Ryman

We only caught the last half of The Antlers' short opening set at last night's Death Cab for Cutie show at the Ryman, but we liked what we heard enough to buy their latest album, Familiars, this morning. The Brooklyn trio’s pretty, sleepy tunes were a bit more nuanced than the generic indie-rock label would suggest, and the fact that they’ve taken their name from a Microphones song gives them extra cool cred while also nodding to the dreamy, experimental side of their sound. It’s music that would quite possibly be playing through the atmosphere should we ever technologically advance enough to float around on clouds. Here’s hoping we get there soon. We’d like to take a nap.

Now, despite having seen Death Cab somewhere between 30 and 800 times, we were very much looking forward to yet one more performance because a) the Ryman is such an incredible venue, and b) it’s a brand new era for the band. Earlier this year founding guitarist and longtime producer Chris Walla left the band after they finished recording their latest album Kintsugi. Admittedly, it was strange to not see him juggling guitar and keyboard duties on stage left, but sonically the band has adapted well to their new form. Onstage, Death Cab now includes guitarist Dave Depper and Zac Rae, who has played for everyone from Miley Cyrus to a Beatle, and also has a man bun.

As Death Cab bassist Nick Harmer noted in his

, the addition of Depper and Rae gives the band more flexibility in what they can do live with both old and new songs. For example, last night they went way back in time to play a great version of “President of What?” (which “appeared on our first cassette,” singer Ben Gibbard bantered) and the quintet didn’t have to sacrifice any of the instrumentation with Rae there to play that sneering organ that gives the song its unhinged, psychedelic circus vibes.

“President of What?” was the only Something About Airplanes track to make the 21-song set, but given that the band now has eight full-lengths (HOW DID WE GET TO EIGHT? UGH, WE’RE SO OLD), they did a remarkable job fitting in something for every generation of Death Cab fan. Along with the expected extra helping of Kintsugi material (“No Room in Frame,” “The Ghosts of Beverly Drive,” “Little Wanderer,” “You’ve Haunted Me All My Life,” “Black Sun," etc.), the band acknowledged just about every album (save for We Have the Facts and We’re Voting Yes) by playing “Photobooth,” “A Movie Script Ending,” “The New Year,” "I Will Possess Your Heart" (the long version), "You Are a Tourist" and the heartbreaking “What Sarah Said,” which left several people around us either wiping tears out of their eyes or clasping their date’s hands tightly. We should have known better to wear mascara to a show featuring the band that wrote the song that asks “Who’s gonna watch you die” over and over again.

Though Gibbard has a pretty great sense of humor (fans know this based on live footage and his now defunct-Twitter account), he was mostly quiet between songs, save for the occasional “Thank you” and concise song intros. It's not too surprising — it's totally possible that band is tired of talking anyway. They've been doing the new album press circuit for several weeks and since Walla has left and this is the first Death Cab record to be released since Gibbard's very public divorce, it'd be understandable if they've reached the point where they'd rather let the songs and new band form speak for itself. But Gibabrd did break free of focused-artist mode a few times to dedicate “Soul Meets Body” to those in the “Gibbard Splash Zone," the lucky few sitting so close to the stage that their necks are probably still cramped today. And when he returned for the first song of the encore, a solo performance of “I Will Follow You Into the Dark,” he joked about how he is not at all opposed to someone like Kenny Chesney covering it, saying, “Any money we make from you covering this song, we’ll send to Jason [McGerr, drummer] to put his kids through college.” Give it some serious thought, Chesney. Maybe you could even change one of the lines to say, “I will follow you into your truck."

Setlist:

"No Room in Frame"

"Crooked Teeth"

"Photobooth"

"Doors Unlocked and Open"

"The Ghosts of Beverly Drive"

"Title and Registration"

"Black Sun"

"Little Wanderer"

"Little Bribes"

"President of What?"

"You've Haunted Me All My Life"

"What Sarah Said"

"Everything's a Ceiling"

"You Are a Tourist"

"The New Year"

"Cath..."

"Soul Meets Body"

"I Will Possess Your Heart"

Encore:

"I Will Follow You Into the Dark"

"El Dorado"

"A Movie Script Ending"

"Transatlanticism"