I always fall in love with an open door

Here's Ra Ra Riot!, one of the bands that opened for Death Cab Friday night. The other was The Cold War Kids, who were okay, but not quite my style. This Ra Ra Riot song ("Ghost Under Rocks"), however, is quite deliciously awesome – these guys were very intense. I knew it would be a good set when I saw the electric cello and violin! Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of Ra Ra Riot! We were too scared that Security would come confiscate the camera because they had stopped us at the gates already - the Canon Rebel apparently looks too 'professional.' Are you professional? Well, no, Batman, I'm not.

After a while, though, we got more gutsy. I got a few shots of The Cold War Kids, whose bassist (center), without a doubt, was on drugs. My guess was coke, but who knows? Don't be fooled by his halo (full-size image if you click):


The CWK played a long (too long) set, then came the disgustingly long wait for Death Cab. After a few decades, they emerged. They played! Music! With instruments! And voices! We were waaay too far away for my taste, but that was okay. It was Death Cab For friggin' Cutie, and there's no complaining about that. I think this was the first time I'd ever even seen how they play live - I haven't ever watched any live videos of them, even. For me, DCFC falls into this strange category of being a band so perfect that they're possibly actually immortal. Before this, I only vaguely knew what they looked like because I felt that associating the music with faces and names would almost cheapen it; when I found out that one of the members of The Shins was abusive of his long-time girlfriend, it made me a little sick. I knew Ben by sight, and a little about his life, and that's about it. I don't even imagine him singing when I listen to the music. I'm not sure how to explain it. They have such perfect music that I can't associate it with actual people. So you can see how this concert was a bit surreal for me.

As a continuance of the surreality, Ben Gibbard (lead singer), the only person in the band I knew, was all skinny-like and had chin-length hair, which was weird, because the last pictures I had seen of him had been adorable Plans-era chubby Ben. Perhaps he is losing weight for his wedding to Zooey Deschanel? I love you Ian, but I have sooooooo much jealousy for Zooey. You do understand, I hope, that this is DCFC we're talking about. His voice was still nice, though, so I forgive him for the hair and the skinny.

And so, without further ado, the pictures:


Guitarist Chris Walla was the most popular subject of our photos for the express reason that he was closest. Also, the Martinez sisters (Angel and Amanda, our German-Mexican companions on the trip) really like him.


Soooooo far away.

The dudes: