Project Description

DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE

@ Sydney Opera House

11/03/19

(Live Review)

Reviewer/photographer: Ro Llauro

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DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE // Photo – Ro Llauro

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Death Cab for Cutie. One of those bands that kill you softly with nostalgia and romanticised gloom as you travel back to your desolate emo days, locked in your room listening to Chris Walla’s introspective poetry on repeat.

They walk on stage. Smooth. Confident. Mature. Their playing is effortless.

When you feel embarrassed then I’ll be your pride. When you need directions then I’ll be the guide.

40 minutes of non-stop gratifying  throwbacks escalate into a tender intimate piano moment with the singer. His being elevated, isolated, projecting every disappointment and unexpected turn onto his keys.

And it came to me then, that every plan is a tiny prayer to father time… as I stared at my shoes….

The bass line demands a rhythmic applause and the synths come in like a thunderstorm. The stage is filled with red.

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DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE // Photo – Ro Llauro

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We can feel it coming. It is building. Are you ready?

Chris sits behind the piano. The lights slowly shine upon him. He is officially blessed by Euterpe, the goddess of music. His emo bangs sway in the air and it all stops…. except for the delay on the guitar.

You Gotta spend some time love… gotta spend sometime with me.

Delicate and precise light work overtake the stage. White beams of light invade us…

I will possess your heart.

He rips the mic off the piano stand.

You reject my advances and desperate pleas.

I won’t let you let me down so easily.

He rushes to his guitar and busts out a few final licks leading us into a climatic ending. Bullet shells of light shoot across the stage. A red and blue sky. A firefight.

The band is caught in the crossfire. Battle wounds.

The squeaking of our skin against the steel has gotten worse.

They now Look Like Giants. Invincible. A smooth and groovy start breaks into soft aggression with a taste or resentment.

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DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE // Photo – Ro Llauro

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God bless the daylight, the sugary smell of springtime, remembering when you were mine…

And after all said and done the music makes you ponder. It makes you stop and feel. Nothing more. It makes you feel what is like to have your heart broken. To heal and to regain courage as the guitars strum and drums intensify and reveal a new found strength. Triumph. Their dissonant rhythmic session explores the space and culminates into beautiful unison and harmony.

I want to live where soul meets body and let the sun wrap its arms around me… and feel what it’s like to be new.

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DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE // Photo – Ro Llauro

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They celebrate by waving their acoustics into the air. But this is not over.

Chris laments.

I’ll be close behind and I’ll follow you into the dark.

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DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE // Photo – Ro Llauro

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Now on to the piano. An occasional gentle strum of the guitar keeps us in the moment.

I need you so much closer.

Blue and Magenta lights softly scan their bodies from top to bottom looking to expose every scar.

And the distance is quite simply much too far for me to row. It seems farther than ever before. So come on…. come on…

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DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE // Photo – Ro Llauro

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Skinny black jeans and button-down shirts. These are the early emo kids. Still rocking. Still growing. Still feeling. A lot. A lot of feelings. Mature. Mature feelings. Love, death, loneliness, existential crises, missing home. Missing her. Missing you. Making plans. Feeling lost. Being found again.

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DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE // Photo – Ro Llauro

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And after thousands of performances, you know they are true. Every part of their being is in those lyrics, in their performance. Chris seems to relive the moments his lyrics describe with such honesty that they you make you wonder whether you should empathise or try to comfort him.

Make sure to listen to Death Cab For Cutie‘s new album Thank You for Today and catch them on tour next time they come around. You won’t regret it.

 

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