Death Cab, Cold War Kids, Ra Ra Riot

Matt came up with the brilliant idea of me talking about the Death Cab For Cutie, Cold War Kids, and Ra Ra Riot show on Sunday. I wish I would have set up mobile blogging before it so that way I could have given the same mobile updates that I sent to my Twitter. 

I liked the show, overall. I am a big DCFC fan, and I will at least like anything they put out. 

First things first: 

I went with my sister Kaitlin and we got seats on the floor which was great. We made it up to be about 20 feet from the stage. We were crowded and tired by the end of the show, but made it through. The most annoying part was the guy and girl behind us making out most of the show. Not that I care what they were doing, but her had kept bumping in to my shoulder, and I would feel him breathe a long exhale down my neck. I was intentionally rude and would step back into them or "accidently" elbow their heads. 

Anyways...Ra Ra Riot was first. I had listened to them before, but not a lot. They were very talented. The lead singer is not much of a performer, but it's indie-rock, you're allowed to look nervous. Other than a typical rock lineup of Guitar, Bass, Vocals, and Drums, they had a female violinist, who played with what looked to be a bass bow, and a female Electric-upright bass player who was amazing, AND extremely good looking. Great show overall, but when you only have 20 bucks to last a week, not a "must buy" album for me. 

Up next was the Cold War Kids. I own both of their albums. I really liked their first album, particularly 3 or 4 tracks from it. I could take or leave their newer album. To be completely honest, I was very let down by their performance. I was bored. They made a good recorD (emphasis on the singularity) but their live performance was not interesting and they didn't strike me as extremely talented musicians. I don't think I'm the only one who felt this way since the audience was talking most of the time anyway, however, my friend Michael Cooper said the opposite, and said Cold War Kids were his favorite act of the three. I guess it's just a difference of taste. 

Oh yes, Death Cab. I really enjoyed the show. It was my second time to see them live. The first time being last summer in Grand Prairie, Texas. No, I am not as cool as everyone who saw them before Transatlantacism came out, when they were cool and "indie". They started the show off with "Bixby Canyon Bridge" which is the first track off of their newest record Narrow Stairs. This is really the only track off of the latest record that I REALLY liked. They played a few tracks off of the new record, hits such as: "Marching Bands of Manhattan", "Soul Meets Body", and "I Will Follow You Into The Dark" which were the radio songs from Plans, as well as "New Year", "Title and Registration", "Sound of Settling" and one or two more from Transatlantacism. I was very happy to hear, from Photo Album, "We Laugh Indoors" and "Movie Script Ending" and I almost wet my pants when they played "Title Track", and "Company Calls" from my favorite album, We Have The Facts and We're Voting Yes. They played a couple songs from their newest EP, which I am afraid to hear in entirety, because I do NOT like what I've heard from it so far. However, ending with the glorious "Transatlantacism" as they did when I saw them the first time, was killer. 

Overall, I really enjoyed the show. It was a good time. Also, Ben Gibbard has an Obama sticker on one of his maybe 6 guitars that he played. That was a nice touch. 

It changes a lot, but as of now, my rank of DCFC albums goes: 

1. We Have The Facts and We're Voting Yes

2. Photo Album

3. Something About Airplanes 

4.Transatlantacism

5. Plans

6. You Can Play These Songs With Chords

7. Narrow Stairs