[ATTENDED: July 17, 2026] Death Cab for Cutie
Death Cab for Cutie has put on consistently excellent shows. This is my fifth time seeing them–they’re also one of the few bands that my wife and I have seen the same amount of times.
We saw them about a year ago when they opened for My Chemical Romance. I still think it was an odd choice for an opener, but the crowd responded well, and it was almost like a rocking greatest hits set from DCFC.
But this show was touring for thier new album. I hadn’ listened to it a lot, but, like with most DCFC albums, I could listen to the whole thing and simply enjoy it all. This made for a funny realization in that the band played a few seriously deep cuts and I assumed they were from the new album. It’s interesting when you think a 28 year old song is new.
The stage was interesting. A series of four foot tall panels were behind them. When they started the first song, Riptides, the panel lit up in interesting ways, although there was nothing specific about any of them. Then about half way through the song, the giant wall behind them lit up as well. So they had a pretty wild and intense visual show going on behind them while they played. I realized that I hadn’t listened to the previous album, Asphalt Meadows, all that much either (fake fan). So I thought Roman Candles was a new song but one that I’d internalized in my recent listen through.
I always feel bad when a band plays new songs and the crowd is pleased, but when they play an older song and the crowd goes berserk. It almost feels like we’re saying don’t bother making new music. So when they started The New Year, the crowd went wild. We all also knew the new single from the album, Punching the Flowers, which has been getting a lot of airplay on WXPN.
I’m rally bad with song titles, particularly DCFC titles, so I never remember which songs are the hits from the album. I hadn’t thought of The Ghosts of Beverly Drive, even though they’ve played it three of the four previous times we’ve seen them.
The woman behind me was a pretty big fan and it was interesting when she sang along to Black Sun. Most of the songs were pretty loud, but this one is quiet and she sang in a somewhat professional manner–high with vibrato. It was almost annoying, but her voice was really pretty, so….
I don’t know why the new album has two songs with the album title (an a and a b). They played the a version, a pretty song. It seemed like every time they played a new song I marvelled at how short it was. Most of the new album’s songs are about three minutes long. And some of their songs (arguably the best ones to see live) are really long.
In three of our shows, they played a song from their second album, one I don’t know well, enough (again, fake fan). This one was Company Calls. And it really shows how consistent they have been over the years.
One of the great longer songs is You Are a Tourist–catchy and with a great riff. It’s fun watching Ben sing and play guitar because he never sits still for a second. He’s always rocking back and forth and when he’s not singing, he walks around to either guitarist Dave Depper or bassist Nick Harmer.
Both Depper and Harmer have keyboards at their disposal and each ones plays from time to time. And main keyboardist Zac Rae plays guitar from time to time too. I wonder how the roles get divvied up.
I realized midway through the set something that I have realized from time to time but it really stuck out for me–when Harmer has cool bass parts, the songs always sound great. Like the amazing bass intro of I Will Possess Your Heart. This song is one of the best DCFC songs to see live. It starts slow and quiet with that bass riff and Ben making interesting sounds from his guitar. Then after a few minutes, Ben runs to the piano in the back and plays the quiet parts as the progresses. The song runs to at least 9 minutes and could go longer if they’re into it–and it was clear that Ben was really into it as he danced behind the piano before returning to the front of the stage for more guitar.
From the loud, long rocker, he moved to the quiet I Will Follow You Into the Dark. It was just Ben and his guitar and it sounded beautiful. So much so that he said it was amazing having 11,000 people sing back to him. He had us all sing the chorus to him and then he finished the song. He said that the next song-Grapevine Fires-seemed appropriate to play given that we were currently inhaling toxic air from the Canadian wildfires. We really should all have been masked up, but I couldn’t find any in my house!
Then came two new songs, the quiet and delightful Stone Over Water and then the super intense How Heavenly a State–it opened with a thumping bass and the jagged guitars. It was really heavy and then after a minute or so the song dropped away and sound effects played through the venue before the bass thumped back in again. I immediately fell in love with this song and look forward to seeing it live again some time.
This show was also amazing for me because no one sat in front of me and the people in the row before that didn’t stand up. So I could sit and see everything perfectly. It was awesome. Finally with about three songs left, the woman in the row in front of us stood up and moved in front of me. So I had to stand for the last few songs, but that was totally fine–it is fun to stand too.
Ben dedicated Cath… to Japanese Breakfast and told us not to listen to the words for the dedication, just the vibe. The crowd was super excited for Cath and even more so for Crooked Teeth.
One more new song Trap Door was followed by a song from the previous album that I like a lot. In fact I have the chorus “I want to know the measure from here to forever and I want to feel the pressure of god or whatever” running through my head much of the time. They ended the set with Soul Meets Body and the place erupted. Everyone loved singing the “ba dat da dat da dah dah” part and this is one of those great
They left for an encore break and weren’t gone very long when they came back and opened the encore with a quiet song that I didn’t really recognize. I thought it was part of a new “trend” of bands starting an encore set with a new song. But I couldn’t have been more wrong. This was a Champagne in a Paper Cup from their debut. It was a short song that segued into Ben jumping behind the piano and playing a slow melody. Once again, I thought, encores are supposed to be fun and bouncy. I didn’t recognize Different Names for the Same Thing at first, but once I realized what it was I was pretty excited to hear it. It was the first time I’d seen them play it and it was a tour debut. And that’s a cool thing about DCFC, their setlist is mostly the same every night, but they do mix it up here and there and maybe your town will get a rarity or an old favorite when other towns won’t get the same one. And after the quite intro, Ben ran to the front and Harmer played the bouncy bassline and the song took off.
There was s light emergency right after they started the next song, but it was quickly taken care of and they easily jumped back into No Sunlight which is a super fun song (despite the lyrics).
They ended the set with another really long buildup of a song. I told my wife that when we saw them at the Tower Theater and they ended with this song, it absolutely blew me away. It didn’t affect her the same way, but she promised to pay more attention this time. So, when they ended the show with Transatlanticism (a song I recently found out they don’t play at every show), I was thrilled. This version had the same impact on me. I love that it starts slow (and the visuals behind it were of waves crashing down) and that the song continues to get louder and louder as they played. I was very aware of drummer Jason McGerr– their “new” drummer who has been with them for 22 years after seeing him on the screens when they opened for MCR. He began the song by tapping everything gently, keeping time. And by the end, he was smashing the hell out of the cymbals. The intensity is incredible. As new elements are added (the guitar line) the “I need you so much closer” and finally the “come on”‘s. It was magical and my wife agreed.
Incidentally, I love DCFC’s music, but their visuals are just consistently underwhelming. This image to the right is the album and was the basis of the poster and Tshirts. I mean, boring. My wife bought a short from them which is just black with the band’s name in big letters on the front. Surely they must have a visual artist friend who can make their stuff a little more exciting? At least for merch? And album cover can be stark and visually boring but still effective, but for a poster? Not so much.
| July 17, 2026 Mann Center | 2025 MetLife [open for MCR] | September 29, 2022 Met Philly | |
| Riptides ♦ | TAPE: Our Prayer (Beach Boys song) | I Don’t Know How I Survive ¿ | |
| Roman Candles ¿ [3] | I Will Possess Your Heart ⇑ [4] | Roman Candles ¿ | |
| The New Year ™ [3] | The New Year ™ [2] | The New Year ™ | |
| Punching the Flowers ♦ | Roman Candles ¿ [2] | Cath… ⇑ [2] | |
| The Ghosts of Beverly Drive ℘ [4] | Here to Forever ¿ [2] | A Movie Script Ending ∏ [2] | |
| Black Sun ℘ [5] | Black Sun ℘ [4] | Here to Forever ¿ | |
| I Built You a Tower (a) ♦ | You Are a Tourist ⊗ [3] | Black Sun ℘ [3] | |
| Company Calls ϖ | Cath… ⇑ [3] | Northern Lights ¥ [3] | |
| You Are a Tourist ⊗ [4] | Soul Meets Body ¶ [4] | I Miss Strangers ¿ | |
| Pep Talk ♦ | Transatlanticism ™ [3] | Crooked Teeth ¶ [3] | |
| I Will Possess Your Heart ⇑ [5] | Rand McNally ¿ | ||
| I Will Follow You Into the Dark ¶ [4] | I Will Follow You Into The Dark ¶ [3] | ||
| Grapevine Fires ⇑ | Your Heart is an Empty Room ¶ | ||
| Stone Over Water ♦ | Asphalt Meadows ¿ | ||
| How Heavenly a State ♦ | You Are a Tourist ⊗ [2] | ||
| Cath… (dedicated to J Brekkie) ⇑ [4] | The Ghosts of Beverly Drive ℘ [3] | ||
| Crooked Teeth ¶ [4] | I Will Possess Your Heart ⇑ [3] | ||
| Trap Door ♦ | Soul Meets Body ¶ [3] | ||
| Here to Forever ¿ [3] | Foxglove Through the Clearcut ¿ | ||
| Soul Meets Body ¶ [5] | encore | ||
| encore | Pepper ¿ | ||
| Champagne from a Paper Cup ⊄ | 405 ϖ | ||
| Different Names for the Same Thing ¶ | I’ll Never Give Up on You ¿ | ||
| No Sunlight (restarted after brief audience emergency) ⇑ [2] | Bixby Canyon Bridge ⇑ | ||
| Transatlanticism ™ [4] |
| June 10, 2019 Sayreville | October 9, 2018 Upper Darby | |
| I Dreamt We Spoke Again ¥ [2] | I Dreamt We Spoke Again ¥ | |
| Summer Years ¥ [2] | Summer Years ¥ | |
| The Ghosts of Beverly Drive ℘ [2] | The Ghosts of Beverly Drive ℘ | |
| Long Division ⇑ [2] | Long Division ⇑ | |
| Title and Registration ™ [2] | Title and Registration ™ | |
| Gold Rush ¥ [2] | Gold Rush ¥ | |
| Crooked Teeth ¶ [2] | A Movie Script Ending ∏ | |
| No Sunlight ⇑ | Crooked Teeth ¶ | |
| What Sarah Said ¶ [2] | What Sarah Said ¶ | |
| 60 & Punk ¥ [2] | 60 & Punk ¥ | |
| I Will Possess Your Heart ⇑ [2] | I Will Possess Your Heart ⇑ | |
| Autumn Love ¥ [2] | Title Track ϖ | |
| Black Sun ℘ [2] | Autumn Love ¥ | |
| Expo 86 ™ [2] | Black Sun ℘ | |
| Northern Lights ¥ | Expo 86 ™ | |
| You Are A Tourist ⊗ | Northern Lights ¥ | |
| Cath… ⇑ [2] | Doors Unlocked and Open ⊗ | |
| We Looked Like Giants ™ | Cath… ⇑ | |
| Soul Meets Body ¶ [2] | Soul Meets Body ¶ | |
| encore | The Sound of Settling ™ | |
| I Will Follow You Into The Dark ¶ [2] | encore | |
| When We Drive ¥ | I Will Follow You Into The Dark ¶ | |
| Tiny Vessels ™ [2] | Near / Far ¥ | |
| Transatlanticism ™ [2] | Tiny Vessels ™ | |
| Transatlanticism ™ |
⊄ Something About Airplanes (1998)
ϖ We Have the Facts And We’re Voting Yes (2000)
∏ The Photo Album (2001)
™ Transatlanticism (2003)
¶ Plans (2005)
⇑ Narrow Stairs (2008)
⊗ Codes and Keys (2011)
℘ Kintsugi (2015)
¥ Thank You for Today (2018)
¿ Asphalt Meadows (2022)
♦ I Built You a Tower (2026)
I Just Read About That... 