Death Cab And Frightened Rabbit Concert*

Because I am a total moron, I forgot to bring a camera with me Tuesday night. Yes—shame on me.

With the venue situated directly on the East River in Brooklyn, a camera would have been more than welcome. With the sun setting on the Manhattan skyline and two of my favorite bands (Death Cab For Cutie and Frightened Rabbit) playing out at the river, I would have loved just one photo.

Imagine: the Manhattan skyline—the top of the Empire State building ringed with light, a huge, crescent moon serenely on the rise, and Ben Gibbard singing this:

“I could open my arms

and span the length of the isle of Manhattan

and bring it to where you are,

leaving a lake of the East River and Hudson.”

~

It goes without saying that the concert on both ends was excellent. In fact, if I could offer up any piece of criticism up to Gibbard et al, it would be that the show seemed very nearly too meticulous. Not perfect—there were stray notes here and there and a careful amount of grit to the performance—but everything went so swimmingly. Take, for instance, the double drum set outro tacked onto “We Looked Like Giants”…Ben Gibbard trading snare hits with Jason McGerr?

Death Cab For Cutie (clearly NOT at Williamsburg Waterfront...; via Wikimedia Commons

My first question was not why Gibbard knows how to play drums, but rather how are they pulling it off this well? Where’s the edge? I always like a little anxiety when band members stray from their roles—but Ben seemed born to play those drums. Not that I can fault him for being a good drummer or a confident musician…but there you have it. Death Cab is the s***?

*UPDATE

Kayla has contributed pictures from the concert (she is the best!)!

The Manhattan skyline at sunset from Williamsburg Waterfront; photo by Kayla Safran

Death Cab playing at Williamsburg Waterfront; photo by Kayla Safran