Review: Death Cab for Cutie and The Postal Service at All Points East

The sound of 2003 was defined by the feather-light yearning of Ben Gibbard, the nasally frontman of Death Cab for Cutie. With their fourth album, Transatlanticism, and the lite electronica of his side-project The Postal Service, Gibbard offered a haven for a generalized young-adult melancholy. On paper, it seems almost doomed—perhaps even wrong—to attempt to transport Gibbard from the world of the early 2000s into 2024. Yet here we are, with Gibbard and his bands performing to a crowd of nostalgia-driven thirty-somethings at London’s All Points East festival. Somehow, it works.

This 20th-anniversary tour has Gibbard playing both Transatlanticism and The Postal Service’s sole album, Give Up, in their entirety, with a 15-minute intermission in between. For the first set, Gibbard and the rest of Death Cab for Cutie dress in all black, keeping interaction with the audience to a minimum. Transatlanticism primarily revolves around a long-distance relationship, but many of its lyrics resonate as an ode to an era now gone. “There’d be no distance that could hold us back,” Gibbard sings in “The New Year,” connecting directly with a crowd deep in a sonic time machine.

Highlights from the first 45-minute set include the lively “The Sound of Settling,” with its upbeat hand-clap chorus, and the blissful “We Looked Like Giants.” The latter feels like an acknowledgment of nostalgia within a show centered around it, dedicated to their Noughties peers, The Decemberists, who performed earlier in the day.

Following the intermission, Gibbard returns to the stage in white attire, accompanied by his Postal Service collaborator Jimmy Tamborello and musician Jenny Lewis, who provided the heavenly background vocals for Give Up. Gibbard and Lewis make a charming pair on stage: he, the shuffling mathematics nerd, and she, the graceful earth goddess spinning like Stevie Nicks.

Cheers erupt for every line sung by Lewis. “Such Great Heights,” a synth-pop track once considered for the Grey’s Anatomy theme song, is an early spectacle. The back-and-forth between Gibbard and Lewis on “Nothing Better” captures the moody depth of a breakup, resonating with the audience. Although Give Up is somewhat front-loaded compared to Transatlanticism, the setlist’s energy dips slightly as it progresses. This likely explains why the encore features an acoustic reprise of “Such Great Heights” and a cover of Depeche Mode’s “Enjoy the Silence”.

In the crowd, tears are shed, people dance in clusters, and old memories are rekindled. The entire show is a testament to Gibbard’s enduring influence. His moment of cultural prominence sparked countless imitators, with every dreamer thinking they could become a rock star. But how many people still attend Owl City concerts? At Victoria Park, the presence of Gibbard’s bands brings a joy that is both uplifting and nostalgic. Although everyone is older now and living different lives than they might have envisioned when they first discovered these records, we all made it here together, didn’t we?

Source: The Guardian