Pitchfork was underwhelmed with the Chicago Bookeaters concert:
Ben Gibbard closed out the night, but not before comedian/musician Fred Armisen made a surprise appearance as the Death Cab for Cutie frontman himself. Armisen’s intentional false starts included lines like, “This song is about how much I hate the Death Cab fans. They’re so overweight and…shitty,” and, “Chicago’s a really great town for pussy for me.” Gibbard then appeared to applause and quickly sucked out the feeling with a mix of Postal Service and Death Cab for Cutie songs. While on piano, he accurately remarked that with his long hair and sideburns he was starting to resemble Stephen Stills, before playing covers of Teenage Fanclub’s “Slow Fade” (a “newer song” by “my favorite band ever”) and the Band’s “It Makes No Difference”, which his thin, breathy tenor made particularly painful.At the end of the evening, Glass announced that the money the audience had donated during the show had just surpassed the $5,000 goal. The audience’s reward? Gibbard and Roderick returned to the stage with Scotland Yard’s Elia Einhorn to play “the worst song in the world and a Neil Diamond song” (à la the David Byrne/Sufjan collaboration in New York the night before). Gibbard informed us that both titles belonged to the same song, and then the trio launched into a cover of Neil Diamond’s “Porcupine Pie”. It was a fittingly absurd end to a benefit for a children’s creative writing center.
But hey, it’s for charity.
I’d actually like to hear his “It Makes No Difference” if anyone has audio. Here’s John Roderick from the NYC show:
I couldn’t find any photos from the Chicago event. Here’s Stephen Stills:
UPDATE: Great pics from Chicago.
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dude looks like the dark crystal
so that’s it! no wonder i’ve been gaining weight as i’ve been listening to a lot of death cab lately.
ok move along.
The only thing weaker than Gibbard’s paper-thin voice in concert is the fact that he does that stupid shuffle dance while playing, which takes away what little breath he has to sing. If you sped up film of an old man getting through the line in a post office, it would look like the Gibbard dance.
And I like Death Cab!
That Stephen Stills is a good looking guy; I’d like to suck his cock.
Damn, “It Makes No Difference” is my favorite song by the Band. And yeah, it requires a voice with a little more soul than Gibbard’s.
I rewatched The Last Waltz the other night. So much awesome.
hey
psssssssssssst
i photographed the event for 826chi
click the link
WTF happened to Stephen Stills’ face? Jezus H. Christ….
Mr. Gibbard apparently forgot to give due credit to Tom Scharpling of The Best Show On WFMU, who proclaimed “Porcupine Pie” to be “The Worst Song In The History Of Mankind” on his April 25th show. You can listen to Tom’s bit, which I would assume is way funnier than Ben’s rendition of the song, here:
http://www.wfmu.org/listen.ram?show=18835