I was lucky enough to see Death Cab for Cutie perform at a taping for WTTW’s show Soundstage last night. It was a great show and definitely a unique experience. The Soundstage studio was nice, the lights and stage format were very aesthetically pleasing. For those of you unfamiliar with Soundstage, it is an hour long program that is broadcast periodically on WTTW-TV Channel 11, as well as other PBS stations around the country. They have different bands come to their studio with a live audience and then videotape the performance in HD. This particular show won’t air until July 9th. Now, I have never seen Death Cab live even though I’ve been a fan since high school so I was really excited.

They were excellent live, every lyric from Ben Gibbard was perfect, which is pretty impressive considering how he sometimes sings. The bass player is also great, they have some of the most interesting and melodic bass lines I have heard. Over all it was a great performance, and they had plenty of genuine excitement behind it still, which is always nice to see in a band that has been around for a while. Considering how quickly Death Cab shows sell out, I feel very fortunate to have seen them not only for free but in a fairly small place where I could see them really well. It was a definite plus that the acoustics in the WTTW studio were phenomenal. It was hard not to dance to the more upbeat songs like “Soul Meets Body,” but I didn’t want to risk having my dancing on TV.

For my first three weeks as an intern here I have gotten to see Andrew Bird and Death Cab at amazing venues! Quite possibly the best interning perks ever.

(Written by Programming Intern Tara)