Mann Taken on Wild Ride by Death Cab For Cutie

Friday was one wild day (and night) at the Mann Music Center. Shortly after noon time, the vending company (owned by celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck) at the popular concert venue was held up at gun point. The two robbers escaped with around $120,000.

Less than a hour later, the staff of the venue was back on track and preparing for a sold-out show (presented by AEG Live) with alt-rockers Death Cab for Cutie. You can’t keep a good Mann down.

With so many fans flocking to the Mann, traffic was snarled on I-76 in both directions (nearing the Montgomery Drive exit) as the after-work crowd rushed to make it in time to see opening band “Frightened Rabbits” who went on at 7:30pm.

Once inside the gates, fans were in for a treat. With all of the horrible weather this summer, Friday night served as an oasis in the middle of a heat spell. The night was comfortable with a nice breeze and low humidity. It was the perfect night to vege out on the lawn of the Mann with a blanket, a beer, good company, and some great tunes.

DCFC fans packed the lawn as well as both levels of the covered seating area and let out loud cheers as the headliners took the stage just before 9pm.

Lead singer Ben Gibbard was impressed with the size of the crowd, noting that the last time the band played in Philadelphia, there weren’t nearly as many people.

Death Cab For Cutie opened their set (of twenty songs) with “I Will Possess Your Heart”, “Crooked Teeth”, and “We Laugh Indoors”.

They interchanged upbeat numbers that had fans on their feet dancing with slower songs to mellow out the crowd. At one point, Gibbard actually asked fans to take a seat for about four minutes and played his acoustic guitar alone on stage.

He later apologized to the crowd for taking a moment to remove his shoes for the remainder of the show (playing barefoot) because they were new and his feet hurt.

While many bands who have just released a new album would focus mainly on playing their newest tracks in concert, DCFC, who released “Codes and Keys” just over two months ago, played a full range of songs encompassing all seven of their albums.

Their main set ended with “Cath…”, “We Looked Like Giants”, and “Marching Bands of Manhattan”.

After the already lengthy performance, the band returned to play a four song encore that opened with “Portable Television” and closed with “Transatlanticism”.

It was a wonderful ending to a really special show. It goes to show that great music can really make your day. Just to be safe, we decided to drive and not risk any rides home in a taxi like Cutie.

You can view a full photo slide show and set-list below:

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Set List:

I Will Possess Your Heart

Crooked Teeth

We Laugh Indoors

Movie Script Ending

Doors Unlocked And Opened

Long Division

Grapevine Fires

Codes and Keys

Summer Skin

I Will Follow You Into The Dark

You Are A Tourist

The New Year

405

Underneath The Sycamore

Title and Registration

Soul Meets Body

Stay Young, Go Dancing

Cath…

We Looked Like Giants

Marching Bands of Manhattan

Encore:

Portable Television

Expo ’86

Sound of Settling

Transatlanticism

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