Friday May 5, 2006 SGN.org |
 |
Volume 34 Issue 18 |
 |
|
Saturday, Nov 21, 2009
|
 |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
|
||||||||
 |
 |
Death Cab for Cutie and Franz Ferdinand wrap up joint tour in fine form at Vancouver's Pacific Coliseum |
||
.jpg) |
||
| Death Cab for Cutie and Franz Ferdinand wrap up joint tour in fine form at Vancouver's Pacific Coliseum | ||
| by Albert Rodriguez
SGN A&E Writer
Franz Ferdinand and Death Cab for Cutie April 28 @ Pacific Coliseum (Vancouver, BC) "We're Death Cab for Cutie and we're from Seattle, Washington!", exclaimed lead vocalist and guitarist Ben Gibbard of the Grammy-nominated alt pop-rock band. Completing a six-week road trip with co-headliners Franz Ferdinand at Vancouver's Pacific Coliseum last weekend, Death Cab for Cutie played to near perfection in front of a massive hipster crowd. Had it not been for a horrible sound system inside the rarely used sports arena, the performance would've been flawless. Death Cab for Cutie's set list in Vancouver closely paralleled their Portland show, the starting point of the tour on March 22. The order of songs, however, was slightly different. "Soul Meets Body" was pushed to the midway mark of the foursome's hour-plus-long set and "Title and Registration" was bumped further down the list as well. Nick Harmer, wearing Levi's and a rose-colored dress shirt-tie combo, and Chris Walla, in his standard navy blue trousers and T-shirt, jammed heavily throughout the evening and often times nodded their heads intensely like metal gods rather than the melodramatic pop-rockers they truly are. Drummer Jason McGerr pounded away on drums, setting up shop at an angle on the left hand side of the stage. Older favorites were thrown into the performance, such as "President of What?" from Death Cab for Cutie's 1998 album Something About Airplanes and "Company Calls" from their 2000 release We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes. "The New Year", from 2003's Transatlanticism, sounded superb. Gibbard told concertgoers that the group launched last year's Plans tour at Vancouver's Commodore Ballroom on the same night Franz Ferdinand played across the street at the Orpheum. How ironic that these two rock bands would cap a month and a half outing in the exact same city. Gibbard also announced two gorillas had escaped from a nearby zoo, a bit of information that would come in handy during Franz Ferdinand's set. "Crooked Teeth", "Different Names for the Same Thing" and "What Sarah Said" from the new album were on the set list, but once again Death Cab for Cutie neglected to play stronger cuts from the recording, including "Your Heart is an Empty Room", "Summer Skin", "I Will Follow You Into the Dark", "Someday You Will Be Loved" and "Marching Bands of Manhattan". At the end of the concert Gibbard repeated what he'd said earlier, "We're Death Cab for Cutie from Seattle, Washington!". They finished their performance with a usual suspect, "Prove My Hypotheses". Everyone danced and sang, and yelled out for more. But that was the last we'd see of them. Or, was it? After a forty-minute break, Franz Ferdinand ran onstage and tore into "This Boy" from last year's Grammy-nominated effort You Could Have It So Much Better. Lead singer Alex Kopranos trimmed his hair, drummer Paul Thomson grew a partial beard, bassist Bob Hardy looked leaner and sexier, and guitarist Nick McCarthy appeared dashing, as one would expect, in tight pants and a form-fitting T-shirt. This was a greatly improved performance by Franz Ferdinand from Portland six weeks ago. First and foremost, they slowed things down. They weren't in such a rush. The songs actually sounded like songs, not snippets of songs. Despite the painfully bad acoustics inside the coliseum, the quartet's own sound was top notch. Their set list, like Death Cab for Cutie's, was shuffled during the tour and made for a better overall showing. This concert just seemed to have more energy. There was time for fans to build anticipation for "Take Me Out", "This Fire" and "Dark of the Matinee". Speaking of "Take Me Out", the aforementioned gorillas made a guest appearance on stage during this number - four men dressed in ape costumes helped fire up the crowd in a huge sing-along. "The Fallen" and "Do You Want To" were delivered with lots of oomph, while slower cuts like "Walk Away" and "Eleanor Put Your Boots On" had enough momentum to keep the audience entertained. From their self-titled album, Franz Ferdinand played riveting versions of "Michael" and "Darts of Pleasure", but surprisingly omitted the popular "Jacqueline". A cluster of fans chanted "Jacqueline!, Jacqueline!, Jacqueline!" at the end of the performance, hoping they'd sing it. But they didn't. Absent too was "You're the Reason I'm Leaving" and "Come on Home". At one point in the show, Kapranos stood atop a giant speaker on the right side of the stage and spread his legs apart as he played guitar. It was a hot position to see him in. I was directly below him and I must say his super-tight, red-blue striped pants did those Scottish jewels justice. He's definitely got the whole rock star package. I've never thought Bob Hardy was sexy, but I was licking my lips as he stood in front of me for nearly the entire concert. Especially when he threw on a cowboy hat midway through the set. And to think I snuggled up to him for pictures backstage at the Paramount Theatre last fall. Why didn't I see this before? Probably because I'm a lead singer whore, that's why. The highlight of Franz Ferdinand's set was a booming rendition of "Outsiders", which included members of Death Cab for Cutie and opening act The Cribs beating on snare drums. It was as if two marching bands had jumped onstage and joined in. Franz Ferdinand made their exit by way of a two-song encore, and then bowed to a loud, exuberant crowd. It was a thrilling finish to a successful, unforgettable tour. After TV appearances this week with David Letterman and Jimmy Kimmel, Franz Ferdinand returns to Europe for scattered dates that include mostly radio shows and summer festivals. Death Cab for Cutie will perform at The Gorge later this month before going down under to Australia for a string of shows. |
||
 |
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
International Readers |
  It's new! A blog created by the SGN staff so you can be heard |
 |
|
|
|
2nd Annual WA State 05.19.06 IKEA
|
|
working for the freedom to
|
copyright Seattle Gay News - DigitalTeamWorks 2006