DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE At Brixton Academy Review!

By Harry Roth / July 11, 2011

rating: 4

On Thursday 7th July, London€™s Brixton Academy welcomed Death Cab For Cutie to its stage and, profound as it sounds, it was one hell of a soul-enriching encounter. On tour with latest album Codes and Keys, you could have excused Ben Gibbard and his band for starting the show with something new, but no sooner had the pounding intro to €˜I Will Possess Your Heart€™ kicked in, a bold marker for the rest of the night was firmly laid down and from there on, rarely did the band disappoint. Gibbard, a purveyor of beautifully twisted melancholia, is a front man with such a distinctive vocal that there was a little trepidation from this reviewer going into the gig as to what his voice would sound like live. Any worries were firmly smashed out of the park though as no sooner had he begun to sing the opening lines to that opening track, every single person in the room knew that we were in safe hands. It€™s always hard for a band with such a revered back catalogue of songs to keep everyone happy- Gibbard's potent lyrics possess the ability to resonate much deeper to the core than those of his rivals (I mean, is there a more sinister yet heart wrenching notion than €œI Will Possess Your Heart€?) and songs such as 'I Will Follow You Into The Dark', and 'Summer Skin' will surely crop up on the soundtracks of many an audience members life story at one moment in time or another. To hear these songs live in such an intimate environment as the Brixton Academy (the gradient of the floor ensuring everyone is close to the action) was an absolute delight and Gibbard€™s solo version of 'I Will Follow You Into The Dark' had the audience matching him word-for-word providing a truly hair-on-the€“back-of-the-neck-standing-moment. Still, what to leave out on the set-list must have proved a real quandary for the band and if there was a gripe to be had, it was that a few of the well-loved songs were omitted for newer tracks-Come on, where was 'Bixby Canyon Ridge', in particular? leading to a slight lull in the energy of the baying audience. But these lulls were scarce and even the Twilight fans were appeased as the band belted out 'Meet Me At The Equinox'-the commercially astute Gibbons no doubt aware that the success of the film introduced new fans to the band and with it further album sales. There may have been the odd grumble about the austere set, but the strength of the songs alone was enough to elevate this to being something truly special and ensure that this was one of those gigs that lingers in your memory for a long while to come.