Ben Gibbard released not one but two classic albums in 2003, Death Cab For Cutie‘s Transatlanticism and The Postal Service‘s Give Up, and right now, both of those bands are on tour together playing both albums in full for their 20th anniversaries. The tour landed in NYC last night (9/19) for its first of two stops at Madison Square Garden.
Death Cab has headlined the Garden before, and The Postal Service’s 10th anniversary tour in 2013 included two nights at Brooklyn’s similarly sized Barclays Center, but Ben still seemed over the moon about headlining the world’s most famous arena, and it’s pretty remarkable that such intimate songs were able to fill this huge room. When Death Cab wrote Transatlanticism, I can’t imagine the thought of playing an arena even occurred to them, and as Ben said last night, when The Postal Service made Give Up, they thought maybe 5,000 people total would hear it. Death Cab seemed as approachable and down-to-earth on stage as they do at small clubs, and there weren’t really any of the fancy spectacles that arena shows often have. They just won everyone over with the power of these enduring songs.
It’s also pretty remarkable that the reason Death Cab were playing an arena was because they were performing an album released before they were on a major label, before they ever had a hit song. Some of the deeper cuts on Transatlanticism are rarely played, and the crowd reactions to those songs were just as huge as they were for fan faves like “The New Year” and “The Sound of Settling.” And the band was just fully delivering, giving these songs the impassioned performances they deserved. From the big crashes that open “The New Year,” to the title track’s mesmerizing build-up, to Ben pouring his heart out during “Passenger Seat,” Death Cab brought Transantlicism to life.
Death Cab left the set after the album ended–no greatest hits encore or anything–and Ben returned about 15 minutes later with Dntel, Jenny Lewis, and Death Cab’s Dave Depper as The Postal Service. From the opening notes of “The District Sleeps Alone Tonight,” you could tell you were in for something special, and the mood only rose from there. When Jenny first took the mic, she was met by an eruption of screams, and when the dance beats kicked in towards the end, anyone I could see that was still sitting rose to their feet. With “Such Great Heights” as the second song in the set, that initial burst of energy wasn’t waning anytime soon, but it didn’t even matter that the band’s biggest hit comes so early in the album/setlist. Like Transatlanticism, Give Up is an album that so many fans know front to back, and that was very clear at last night’s show. Even when playing the album’s “deepest cuts” (the ones with, say, 8 million Spotify plays instead of 100 million) like the moody “This Place Is A Prison,” The Postal Service had intense command over this crowd. Considering they only play every ten years, it’s a huge treat to see them in any capacity, especially when their performances are still this impactful.
The Postal Service did return for a short encore, with Ben and Jenny playing “Such Great Heights” acoustic (Iron & Wine style), and then both The Postal Service and Death Cab all came on stage together–all decked out in the matching white uniforms that TPS were wearing–for their cover of Depeche Mode’s “Enjoy the Silence.” A fun, crowd-pleasing way to end the night.
Warpaint opened and sounded great, and they’ll do the same at night two tonight (9/20). More pictures of night one by Amanda Hatfield below.
