Last Wednesday I somehow managed to stumble out to the Roy Wilkins Auditorium in downtown Saint Paul to catch the Death Cab for Cutie show. Death Cab is currently on tour with Ra Ra Riot (a really sweet band from NY with a really sweet cello) and Cold War Kids.

Roy Wilkins is a really bizarre venue for a show in my opinion. It’s so large! I mean granted they filled up a lot of seats but the standing room area was so expansive. If you weren’t standing in the first row (which I was after a two hour battle of sneaking around) then your view was completely obstructued. But I don’t know, I guess when you’re up that close the sound quality isn’t as good. Whatever floats your boat.

Anyways….I really recommend that anyone reading this check out Ra Ra Riot. Their set was kind of awkward because not all of their mics were very loud BUT the fact that they had string instruments completely made up for that! AND THE CELLIST’S CELLO WAS SO TIGHT! Check this:

Ra Ra Riot's Cellist

Okay, so its hard to see in that picture, but the body of the cello is ABSENT! It was a neck with strings and a frame!

Cold War Kids played an okay set. The audio quality was good, but every song sounded essentially the same to me. Granted, I’m not the hugest Cold War fan so I’m not too familiar with their music, but I found myself feeling bored.

And Death Cab simply rocked the house. They did a nice job of playing music from a variety of their albums (although I was extremely disappointed that Espo ‘86 was never played…) Technically, they rocked too, they had good lights. Good lights can make a good difference. Yeah. They’re awkward about encores though. You know, typically a band will leave the stage for about 3 minutes before returning for an encore. I’m pretty sure Death Cab was gone for about 6….at least it felt like forever.

Anyways, good show overall. Go see ‘em when they come again.

Bah! Links:

Ra Ra Riot

Death Cab for Cutie

Cold War Kids