Many of their songs mourn the things we have lost. Performing live, they created something transcendent

Detailed summary

Synonymous with a certain kind of earnest, novelistic songwriting, Death Cab For Cutie return to Melbourne for the first time in seven years.

MUSICDeath Cab For Cutie | I Built You A Tower Tour ★★★★Margaret Court Arena, November 13

By a strange twist of fate, three very different acts are playing across Melbourne’s arena precinct on the same night. Metalheads are out in force to see Iron Maiden tear up AAMI Park. The young and online are swarming Rod Laver for TikTok pop sensation Benson Boone. And at Margaret Court Arena, elder Millennials are politely queuing for Death Cab for Cutie, the quintessential indie rock band of the 2000s.

Death Cab is synonymous with a certain kind of earnest, novelistic songwriting that emerged from the Pacific Northwest on the tail end of the grunge boom, part of the same wave that birthed Built to Spill, Modest Mouse and Bright Eyes.

The band’s most career-defining records – 2003’s Transatlanticism and 2005’s Plans – recently marked their 20-year anniversaries; they celebrated the occasion with a string of shows across the US. Now, returning to Australia after a seven-year absence, the band offers a set showcasing the breadth of their catalogue, spanning songs from 2000’s We Have the Facts and We’re Voting Yes to I Built You a Tower, released only a few months ago.

True, the arena setting feels a little at odds with the intimate nature of Ben Gibbard’s songwriting, especially during the opening songs when the audience is still warming up. But the band rises to the occasion, delivering beefed-up, rockier versions of their hits that build to well-earned crescendos.

Gibbard’s tightly wound, almost jittery energy makes him a compelling presence, and his boyish tenor is as fine and clear as ever. During a rendition of beloved acoustic track I Will Follow You Into The Dark, he announces he’s going to do some “arena rock shit – and there’s no more arena rock shit than a singalong”. At this invitation, we lift up our voices in chorus, filling the space with unadorned, a cappella melody. It’s one of the night’s most transcendent moments.

Lyrically, Death Cab for Cutie’s register has…

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