Death Cab for Cutie doesn’t open for just anyone.
The Seattle group had a No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart in May and headlined Bumbershoot 2008 in September.
No, other acts open for Death Cab, as fans affectionately call the band.
But come Tuesday night, Death Cab plans to be in the opener’s slot for Neil Young’s show at Comcast Arena. The group couldn’t be more excited.
“To put it in the simplest of terms, it was simply Neil Young that made us decide to open for Neil Young,” Chris Walla, Death Cab’s producer and guitarist, said.
The concert provides an impressive mix of talent. Death Cab is one of the biggest rock success stories to come out of the Northwest in the last decade, while Young is a living legend, a guy who remains vital more than 40 years into his career, an influential songwriter Walla counts as one of Death Cab’s “collective heroes.”
Young wasn’t available for an interview before the Everett show. No surprise there. Really, it sounded like Walla himself, speaking from Chicago before joining Young on tour, has had zero contact with the man since signing on as the opener.
For instance, Walla said he expects Death Cab will play an upbeat, 45-minute, hit-laden set. But that could change if the group needs to complement the doo-wop version of Neil Young.
“It’s really hard to tell which Neil Young is going to show up…,” Walla said, alluding to the singer’s 30-plus albums. “We don’t really know what’s going to happen.”
In all likelihood, Young will mix some deep cuts into a set that also trots out best-of material such as “Heart of Gold,” “Hey Hey, My My,” and “Rockin’ in the Free World.” According to the Young fan site, www.sugarmtn.org, the songwriter has frequently played those tracks at shows this year.
Set lists aside, the concert will happen on the eve of a presidential election. Young has made his distaste for the Bush administration well known, releasing the song “Let’s Impeach the President” in 2006.
Death Cab’s members also have a political bent. Walla blogged from the Democratic National Convention for RollingStone.com, and spent time at Barack Obama’s campaign headquarters before the group’s Chicago show.
It begs the question, will the audience hear political rhetoric between songs?
Again, Young’s plans are anyone’s guess, but Death Cab intends to steer clear of partisan cheering.
“When we get on stage, we are entertainers,” Walla, 32, said.
That might be the case, but Walla sounded a bit apprehensive about Death Cab’s ability to entertain fans of the 62-year-old icon. Playing so close to its hometown, Death Cab is bound to bring in concertgoers, but Walla isn’t expecting he, singer Ben Gibbard, bassist Nick Harmer and drummer Jason McGerr will win over many new listeners.
“I hope that there is definitely some crossover, but it seems likely enough that we will be one of those pesky opening bands to a lot of the audience,” he said. “And that’s OK.”
Reporter Andy Rathbun: 425-339-3455 or arathbun@heraldnet.com.
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