Not many bands get to play at The Jay Pritzker Pavilion at Millenium Park. The feat of architecture, designed by National Medal of Art winner Frank Gehry, is equipped with a state of the art sound system and shoots 120 feet high into the Chicago sky. Death Cab For Cutie joins other names such as Tortoise and Wilco as some of the only rock acts to play the prestigious stage. The stainless steel canopy would find little color from the sun to illuminate it tonight, but rather, take a cue from the band’s hometown of Seattle, and project the grey clouds hovering over the venue for the crowd to see. The mood was set.
[All photos graciously provided by Amanda Chavi Edwards]
Rogue Wave started the evening coated in reverb and dressed up in cheap ties, as if they were courting Death Cab and in a few shows, would finally meet their parents for approval. The band was tight, but eerily reminiscent to My Morning Jacket sans any balls at all. The set was pretty much a wide body guitar and Fender amp fest, but a great choice for an opener for DCFC.
The skies remained calm as the masked sun began to set over Millennium Park, though you would never be able to tell, sort of like the transformation of Ben Gibbard’s stage presence. Years ago, Ben would have emerged from behind a graffited club wall disguised as your everyday melancholy strummer with black glasses that would have you guessing him a librarian or sarcastic record store clerk. On this evening, a confident, contact-wearing rock star took the stage in Downtown Chicago and stood tall very much stage right of the rest of the ensemble, putting him at a noticeable distance from the rest of the band, signaling the leader was certainly in place. It is very hard to take that step between worlds as a performer without looking like an asshole somewhere along the way, but Ben seems to have mastered the art of transformation with no harm done to his demeanor and hasn’t looked back.
READ ON for more of Wade’s thoughts on Death Cab in Chicago…
