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Death Cab For Cutie / Ben Kweller

live in Minneapolis (2004)
Barsuk Records

Reviewer Rating:

Contributed by: Jesse
(others by this writer | submit your own)

Published on March 30th 2004

Due to traffic, I ended up missing the first part of the /- set. From what I did see, I was impressed. Sort of. They reminded me of a mix between Dismemberment Plan and Death Cab For Cutie, only, they just made me respect both bands even more. I think they're worth checking out. They were really tight on stage and sounded great.

Next up was Ben Kweller. He continued to fail to impress me. First of all, every instrument he played was turned up way too loud compared to the rest of the band. When he played acoustic guitar, all you could hear was the pick hitting the strings. His set was boring. You could tell a lot of people were there just to see "Wasted and Ready." He played songs off his upcoming album. Basically, it sounds like he listened to some AC/DC and Neil Young, then tried to incorporate it into his Weezer rip-off shceme. Boo-urns. After sitting through his way too long set, it was time for Death Cab For Cutie.

Now, I never was a big Death Cab fan before. In fact, I used to hate this band. Long story short, I love this band now. My favorite part about this band is that in their live shows, they like to mix things up a little bit. They played "We Laugh Indoors" a bit slower than usual, they played a long extended outro to "We Looked Like Giants," and an amazing version of "Transatlanticism." They only problem with their set was the drummer dropped his stick during "Styrofoam Plates" during the breakdown, and then the bass was off for the rest of the song. They closed with "Blacking Out The Friction" in a way I never heard before. The drums didn't even come in until the second verse, and then after the song, they transitioned it into a slow, really good version of Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun." Amazing. Here was the set list:

The New Year
We Laugh Indoors
Title and Registration
Photobooth
President of What?
Expo '86
Lightness
Company Calls
Company Calls Epilogue
The Sound of Settling
Transatlanticism
encore:
A Movie Script Ending
Blacking out the Friction/Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

This was my third time seing them live, and absolutely the best.

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Anonymous (June 21, 2004)

Ben Kweller is awsome,
You guys suck major cock.

xmidipunkbastardx (April 3, 2004)

for more of this "my blabla better than your blabla" pick out the last mclusky record and listen to track 8 :)

Anonymous (April 1, 2004)

you forgot my mom can beat up your mom too

Anonymous (April 1, 2004)

My God can beat up your God too!

dignin (April 1, 2004)

"Ooh look at me! I saw a crappy guy before he got big! I'm cooler than everyone!

Just because you saw a crappy act before it got big doesn't mean it wasn't a crappy act."

I was pointing it out because maybe he just belongs on a smaller stage, and your little "mock" above is probably the lowest form of an insult, only behind, "my dad can beat up your dad."

Anonymous (April 1, 2004)

10 stars for dismemberment plan
1/2 star for writing a research paper the night before it's due and being distracted by this damn website

p.s. ben kweller looks a lot like shaun white

Jesse (March 31, 2004)

Ooh look at me! I saw a crappy guy before he got big! I'm cooler than everyone!

Just because you saw a crappy act before it got big doesn't mean it wasn't a crappy act.

dignin (March 31, 2004)

before ben kweller got popular I saw him in the smallest venue in SLC, and it is easily in my top five concerts of all time, my morning jacket opened and they were great too.

funkisdead (March 31, 2004)

Jesse
ben kweller sucks.
everyone else is wrong.
peace
funk

Carak (March 31, 2004)

I speak from experience that while BK's live shows are not AMAZING, they are still damn good. I can't believe there are so many people that think he is a bad song writer. I honestly think that his last album was one of the best of the whole year (in the year it came out--not this year) and I know I am not alone in this feeling. While when I saw him the live set was not amazing, it was still entertaining, and I would call this line up of bands/musicians ANYTHING but boring.

I have heard his new album already, too, and it is also quite excellent. I really don't know how you can think that his last album is all crap except for one or two songs. In my opinion, at least a handful of them could have been hit singles--and GOOD hit singles, I am not talking crappy pop songs. I think you will be eating your words before long. BK rules! (and so does Death Cab, one of my all time favorite bands)

Eddie (March 30, 2004)

Ben Kweller rules. know it