The Aragon Ballroom may not be considered the best sounding venue in all of Chicago, but it certainly has a long history of musical legends that have performed under the painted starlit sky ceiling. Bands like the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, and R.E.M. have all taken on the bass boomy ballroom and survived to see another day.On Wednesday night, Death Cab For Cutie and Franz Ferdinand brought their co-headling tour to the Aragon for a sold-out all ages show. The initial news of the two bands touring together created a lot of buzz. The tour presented two bands on the rise. In Franz Ferdinand, you had a band out of Glasgow, Scotland, that stormed the world with its 2004 self-titled debut album and pile driving single “Take Me Out.” In Death Cab For Cutie, you had a band from the indie rock circuit of the late ‘90s that was finally having the spotlight come to them on their own terms.
For Death Cab For Cutie and lead singer Benjamin Gibbard, the band from Bellingham, Washington, was capping off a sentimental day in Chicago. Earlier in the afternoon at Schubas, an intimate sized club with a playing room fit for about 150 people (a far cry from the 4,500 capacity Aragon), the band performed for the “Live From Studio X” series sponsored by local radio giant WXRT. It was a chance for Death Cab For Cutie to revisit the stage where they first made their Chicago debut almost six years ago.
“I wish we could play longer, but that curfew is a bitch,” said Gibbard to the audience before the band’s encore performance at the Aragon. The issue of time was one of the drawbacks from a co-headlining show like this. Both bands had just over an hour to put on their best. In some ways, it worked out perfectly for Franz Ferdinand and the tempo of its show. The Scottish four-piece geared up their North American tour behind their second album You Could Have It So Much Better (2005) at the Aragon this past September and played for the same amount of time they were scheduled to have on Wednesday night: one hour. But for two bands that genuinely seem to respect and enjoy each other’s music, it was enough time to have some fun.
Franz Ferdinand proved that although it wasn’t a typical Friday night people could still work up a sweat to the right beats and rhythms any day of the week, even at 7:30pm on Hump Day. After the frantic opener “This Boy,” the band laid down the bricks with a raucous performance of “Do You Want To.”Franz Ferdinand was brimming with confidence. Singer/guitarist Alex Kapranos may have been the eye candy, flashing winks and coy smiles to the crowd, but it was lead guitarist Nick McCarthy who pushed the musicality of the band to its peak, jerking each note and chord for all they had. Songs like “Walk Away” and “Eleanor Put Your Boots On” provided smooth transitions from the raw, high-speed, dance grooves to showcase the depth of the band’s songwriting and ability to slow matters down. But when Franz Ferdinand jumped back into the fray, there was a sense that the race was coming to a close. “Take Me Out” got the dance floor bouncing, arms began to wave in unison during “The Fallen,” and, finally, the band sprinted across the finish line with the closer “This Fire.”
It was night and day between the end of Franz Ferdinand’s set and the start of Death Cab For Cutie’s set. The stage was barely visible, almost covered in a blanket of low blue lighting, as Gibbard took to the piano and guitarist Christopher Walla picked out guitar notes that echoed throughout the ballroom like distress calls for the band’s opening tune “Passenger Seat.” Although the band’s set took a time detour from the types of shows it normally performs as a main headliner, what remained consistent with this set was the band’s touch as musical painters with sounds and words, splashing songs like “The New Year” and “Why You’d Want To Live Here” with purpose onto a larger canvas.
The crowd’s clamor for “Crooked Teeth” and “Soul Meets Body” dispelled the criticism the band faced with its major label debut Plans (2005), as if the band’s songwriting capabilities would suddenly turn into hollow pop songs because of Atlantic Records. But for all the textures and colors the band crafted throughout its set, it was Gibbard who elevated the show to another realm with a solo acoustic performance of “I Will Follow You Into The Dark.”
The song’s theme of accepting mortality and shedding the fear that comes along with the idea of death created a hush in the Aragon. Gibbard stood stoically in the light with his acoustic guitar as his lips pressed against the microphone with the lines, “Love of mine, someday you will die/But I’ll be close behind and I’ll follow into the dark.” The voices in the shadows joined with Gibbard’s as each line was sung; it was a testament to Death Cab For Cutie’s success of staying its own course as songsmiths and not compromising to gain cheap popularity.
After the encore finale, “Transatlanticism,” Gibbard said to the roaring audience, “See ya at Lollapalooza. We’re playing with Beck. It’s going to be ultimate.” Fans exiting the Aragon must have started their countdown to August when the 3-day festival takes over Chicago’s Grant Park. For all their differences, artistically and stylistically, Death Cab For Cutie and Franz Ferdinand turned a brief evening into an evening filled with moments that were as soul searching as they were exhilarating. Variety was indeed a spice to a Wednesday night.
All Photos By: Chris Castaneda
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