Feel short changed after the sets we got? People from the Sheffield gig should, I've travelled miles this year and barely heard any of my favourite DCFC songs.

Then they play America and play great early songs. I ain't going again until I've seen setlists before the gig. It's nonsense, why do American fans get better sets, we probably pay more for tickets too. Absolute nonsense people

I think its a difficult call.

Most current fans who have put them at #24 in the UK charts, without barely any UK press, probably don;t know anything before Trans. Airplanes probably sold less than 2,000 copies on release in the whole of the UK.

So, if they are playing a 3,000 venue here there may be a hand full of people familiar with those songs. It can kill the atmosphere, and the stride of the band, to get a zero response from the iPone crowd.

Most of the audience are seeing them for the first time. And there have been lots of chances to see those songs live on earlier tours.

They are playing pretty huge venues and some of the earlier songs are just too fragile to cut in it a big venue.

Also, how bored will they be playing President of What for th 3,000th time?

I love David Bazan, formally of from Pedro the Lion, but I get frustrated when he plays six unreleased songs in his UK set. Not because they are not great, they are. It's just he has about 50 classic songs that would get a better reaction and short cut building a bigger audience for his stuff here. Sometimes it just a better idea to play as many crowd pleasers as you can.

I agree, but I saw them three times and rarities were VERY thin on the ground. Why should the people who don't love the band/early stuff get the songs they want and not the hardcore fans?

The best moment was Company Calls/Epilogue at Manchester, and maybe The Employment Pages Sheffield and Talking Birds in London...but they are hardly very rare and also they play so few of them.
Seeing American setlists has pissed me off, they get great songs and we get the 'hits'.

As Mike says, a lot of songs from Airplanes would go down with the crowd like a lead balloon. It's a shame, but the band do have to be utilitarian and choose the songs that make the best show.

The problem is that Death Cab have so many 'undroppable' songs from the last few albums (The New Year, T+R, Trans, Sound of Settling, Soul Meets Body, I Will Follow You into the Dark, I Will Possess Your Heart, Cath...) that these take up most of the set. I was sad to see A Movie Script Ending not get played in Nottingham, but equally we were surprised with The Employment Pages and Technicolour Girls!

Unfortunately, the people that don't know anything before Transatlanticism are the main bulk of their UK fanbase. Death Cab aren't a band like Muse whose fanbase is famous for being more enthusiastic on the whole about hearing the rarer, older songs than they are about the ones that get played every concert.

The best rarity I've heard live was probably For What Reason back at the Academy in 2006 (seeing as I've witnessed them play Company Calls/CCE twice now). I would love to hear Amputations, Fake Frowns, Your Bruise or Lowell, MA live. I wish they'd drop No Sunlight and Long Division though - both songs are pretty similar and they've got more in their catalogue.

I suppose we should wait until they've finished touring Narrow Stairs and see what they start playing then. I'm all for the return of Styrofoam Plates.

P.S. Three people from the UK so far, all of them from Manchester. Hmm.

definitely thought id get involved lol

if only to give wakefield a cheeky nod on here...

i agree completely about no sunlight and long divison, more so with long division, ns is short enough to get away with it...

and i also have to agree there is a lack of rarities played...but at the same time thats what makes them special. that they are rare. ive seen them 7 times now i think and the ones that i hold dear are styrofoam plates in london or amputations in manchester etc...and it makes the gig...you know youre going for a sing along of i will follow you into the dark...and thats brilliant, everytime its a winner. but i think they do quite a good job of keeping everyone happy, by having the usual brilliant set of familiar songs, with the odd exception to the norm dropped in.

and of course there is themselves to think about...what they prefer to play, what will last night after night, and any other number of factors that they as a band have to take into account which i wont pretend i know anything about lol


but i mean i try and make it to every death cab gig it is possible for me to make it to on the off chance they'll slip in a lack of color...i will complain that im still left unsatisfied on this count haha

and sorry for the overuse of ellipses...

quote:

Originally posted by liam:
definitely thought id get involved lol

if only to give wakefield a cheeky nod on here...

i agree completely about no sunlight and long divison, more so with long division, ns is short enough to get away with it...

and i also have to agree there is a lack of rarities played...but at the same time thats what makes them special. that they are rare. ive seen them 7 times now i think and the ones that i hold dear are styrofoam plates in london or amputations in manchester etc...and it makes the gig...you know youre going for a sing along of i will follow you into the dark...and thats brilliant, everytime its a winner. but i think they do quite a good job of keeping everyone happy, by having the usual brilliant set of familiar songs, with the odd exception to the norm dropped in.

and of course there is themselves to think about...what they prefer to play, what will last night after night, and any other number of factors that they as a band have to take into account which i wont pretend i know anything about lol


but i mean i try and make it to every death cab gig it is possible for me to make it to on the off chance they'll slip in a lack of color...i will complain that im still left unsatisfied on this count haha

and sorry for the overuse of ellipses...

I still believe the only reason they play the same songs every time they come to Britain is because they only care about the people who know one or two songs.

Plus they should have played rarities on this last UK tour because the Narrow Stairs promotion was largely over by this point.

quote:

I still believe the only reason they play the same songs every time they come to Britain is because they only care about the people who know one or two songs.

Plus they should have played rarities on this last UK tour because the Narrow Stairs promotion was largely over by this point.

To be fair to the guys, they did reintroduce The Employment Pages for quite a few shows, and played Your Bruise and Title Track here and there.

The disappointing thing is that they had the potential to really rock the boat (heh, Airplanes) with a Fake Frowns or For What Reason, for example. Surely they knew by early November that Airplanes was being re-released and it would have been the perfect chance to introduce it to a new audience.

The recent US show where they played Bend to Squares, President of What? and Pictures in an Exhibition in the same set was a good example.

That said, I'm still surprised I got to witness their only UK play of Technicolor Girls at Nottingham.

Having only seen the guys for the first time on the last UK tour (Nottingham and Sheffield) I was quite happy with the set lists. And although not a great fan of Technicolor Girls, it was nice to be present when Ben said that he couldn't recall ever playing it in the UK before.

Personally I was keen to hear 405 or Photobooth but it wasn't to be.

Maybe the best answer would be for the sets to become 30 minutes longer?

I saw them at Brixton Accadamy, and I got the impression that most of the fans had never even heard of them.

But when I saw them at electric ballroom (smaller venue) they played all the songs I wanted and the fans seemed to of actually heard of the band plus this was just before Narrow stairs had come out though maybe that was it.

Consider this - most of those in attendance at Death Cab shows know the last 2 records. They pay money expecting to hear the "hits." If the band plays older material, it can kill the room because so few in attendance know what they're listing to and go home disappointed. With 6 LPs and multiple EPs, it's tough to please everyone. I was in attendance at the Seattle Chistmas show where then began the set with the first 4-5 songs off Airplanes. I thought is was great, but, the crowd was largely silent with confused looks on their young faces. This, in the band's hometown. Bottom line - you can't please everyone so I guess you play the hits and sprinkle in others to break setlist monotony for yourself and keep older fans happy. They do the best they can .... I think.

quote:

Originally posted by slapshot:
Consider this - most of those in attendance at Death Cab shows know the last 2 records. They pay money expecting to hear the "hits." If the band plays older material, it can kill the room because so few in attendance know what they're listing to and go home disappointed. With 6 LPs and multiple EPs, it's tough to please everyone. I was in attendance at the Seattle Chistmas show where then began the set with the first 4-5 songs off Airplanes. I thought is was great, but, the crowd was largely silent with confused looks on their young faces. This, in the band's hometown. Bottom line - you can't please everyone so I guess you play the hits and sprinkle in others to break setlist monotony for yourself and keep older fans happy. They do the best they can .... I think.

Fair enough. But I don't care about 'casual' fans, I just think they play safe in the UK continually and it's really rather boring for fans. Great bands don't give a fuck what the public think of them they play whatever they want, no-ones telling me they want to play Sound of Settling and Transatlanticism for the 273927924769 time that tour. They play favourites because they're boring and play to the crowd far too much.

jimtunstall you sound like a whingeing-fucking-ninny UK fan. i thought "hardcore' deathcab fans, uk or otherwise, were made of sturdier stuff. take what you're given and be grateful.

no offence.

quote:

Originally posted by youthinkidonothingallday:
jimtunstall you sound like a whingeing-fucking-ninny UK fan. i thought "hardcore' deathcab fans, uk or otherwise, were made of sturdier stuff. take what you're given and be grateful.

no offence.

What a joker. "take what you're given and be grateful", what a complete idiot. Yeah, I just paid to see a band three times in various cities to "take what I was given", fair enough I was moaning a little but why shouldn't I discuss the merits of playing rarier songs on a messageboard. It's just really boring hearing the same songs, and the only argument losers like you have is "well it's cos they have casual fans", if you cared about what setlists were like you'd complain when a band consistently play safe.

Plus I'm English and like whingeing, and proud!

semi-colon, right bracket, 24th letter of the english alphabet.

I don't think the guys want to play the older material. They've moved on and developed a different kind of sound, so surely they are going to want to play the stuff that is current and relevant to them as a band.

There's no doubt they care about their fans.

What about the Italian guy who met Ben outside the Brixton gig and asked for What Sarah Said?

Lo and behold, it got played.

With the amount of recorded material available, they should simply be playing longer.

I can't imagine seeing them play Styrofoam Plates or Kaleidoscope but I've satisfied my desire to hear the older stuff played live by acquiring loads of live recordings.

I seem to remember that many years ago Adam and the Ants used to support themselves from time to time. Basically, in place of a support band they would just do a 40 minute set of oldies, covers, or never recorded songs. They did this to satisfy demand from long term fans to hear the dozens of pre-fame songs.

Anyone who is interested in hearing the same stuff for the umpteenth time - the Guardian podcast version of No Sunlight is superb