Closing out week one
Despite the skies threatening rain overhead, the crowds at Lebreton Flats were as alive as ever this past Sunday evening.
Following a killer act from Canadian sister-duo, Tegan and Sara, Death Cab for Cutie closed out the first weekend of Bluesfest ‘23 with a career-spanning set.
As a long-time fan of Death Cab, I’ll admit that I was curious to hear just what songs would be included in their set. I mean, with over two decades of music under their belts, there’s a lot of ground to cover. But man, did they deliver!
Their set had a bit of everything – from the band’s more up-tempo, rock tunes (see 2008’s “I Will Possess Your Heart” or “I Don’t Know How I Survive” from their most recent album, Asphalt Meadows) to their more intimate and acoustic (“Cath…” or “Rand McNally”), the night featured a healthy mix for fans both old and new.
During fan-favourite “I Will Follow You into the Dark,” frontman Ben Gibbard paused to recall an anecdote from his own festival-going days.
He explained that after waiting in the heat and humidity all day, all he had wanted was to hear a musician play that one special song … only for the artist to turn the microphone around for the crowd to sing it back to him instead. As a compromise, Gibbard asked the crowd to sing solo for one round of the chorus before joining in to finish off the song.
The night ended with a stellar performance of “Transatlanticism,” a crescendo of a song that starts with Gibbard’s solo at the piano before building into a wall of ambient sound.
Safe to say, my first weekend of RBC Bluesfest was a success.
Bring on weekend two!
