Death Cab for Cutie / Postal Service / Pedro the Lion – Santa Barbara Bowl – 10/14/2023

So, retro concerts are kind of becoming a thing. Or, maybe they’ve been a thing for a long time. I see coming up on my calendar a Weezer/Smashing Pumpkins tour which feels very 1996-2000 ish to me.

In any case, I bought tickets to the DC4C and PS show almost five months ago. I didn’t actually know if was a replay show or retro show or whatever they’re called. But, it turned out – and I was pleasantly surprised – that it was a replaying of the entirety of the Transatlantacism and Give Up albums. Walking into this without realizing it ahead of time was almost too perfect. The night was wonderful.

For those who don’t know, Transatlantacism came out in October of 2003. Give Up came out in February of 2003. The singer in both is Ben Gibbard. Postal Service is a wild album because it was “made” via mail between Ben Gibbard and Jimmy Tamorello using… the postal service to send demos and lyrics and melodies back and forth. They were then mixed by Jimmy in Seattle (Ben was in LA) and eventually released as Give Up. This all happened in a era largely pre-dating high speed internet, so this process that might be somewhat prosaic now, was novel and took months.

The result was quite nice. Ben was already relatively famous from DC4C fame, and the collaboration also involved a personal favorite of mine, Jenny Lewis, who was then somewhat un-famous, as backing vocals. Side note: I love her. Now, back to our story.

The Death Cab album is without question their best. Released almost a year later. Both albums I could easily listen through in their entirety and did many times, in a time before Spotify and Napster and iTunes, when one purchased CDs and put them on and let them play in one’s car as one traversed the massive city of LA. Personal faves on Give Up are Nothing Better and Clark Gable (“I was waiting for a cross-town train on the London Underground, when it struck me.” The train?!). But, Such Great Heights is the one every seems to know. Transatlantacism includes straight up the best DC song, Transatlantacism weighing in at a hefty 8 minutes. But, I also love Passenger Seat – which paints a picture in words that I always love in any song. Ben Folds is amazing at such things. A Lack of Color is another that fits much of my mood circa 2003. The New Year likewise feels hopeful and wistful at the same time.

So, imagine my joy when I received a “parking” email a few days before the show, telling me that Pedro the Lion was the opener. Pedro was introduced to me by my good friend Alex B. when we lived together in London. Pedro is really David Bazan. And, when I was introduce to Pedro, they were a rock band that happened to be Christian, as opposed to a Christian rock band. My time at Pepperdine was typified in a contemplative consideration of my own Christian faith. I was surrounded (I felt) by on-fire Christians who seemed to have no questions or cares for any complications or confusion about their own faith. It all felt very performative or fake to me. David wrote songs that were remarkably emo, but that really grappled with the difficulties of faith in a real and emotional and sometimes painful way. He was a breathe of fresh air to my faith in its earnest, and serious questioning without jettisoning everything. No babies with the bathwater for David.

Faves are Of Up and Coming Monarchs and The Longest Winter, which is crazy depressing, but so good. Unfortunately, David gave up his faith sometime over the last ten years or so, but his words have stuck with me. He played the non-Jesus-y songs I knew and was self-deprecating and seemed to have a great time. It was awesome to see him live again. I think I last saw them in 2008. One of my fave lyrics: “I’ll take something to believe, something with long sleeves, cause its unpredictable.”

And, DC4C played their entire Transatlantacism album followed by Postal Services’ Give Up. I felt like I was in my 4Runner circa late 2003-early 2004. And, Ben was sharp as ever, his eternally-youthful voice exactly the same. The bands were both remarkably tight. And Jenny returned for backing vocals. What a fun, fun night!

Here are some pics from the evening: