I had a $75 general admission floor seat, and arrived just before 6 pm, when the doors opened. I quickly made my way to the floor where I parked myself, leaning on a railing at the front, for the whole evening.
The barricades seemed farther from the stage than normal, and I quickly realized that this was done to provide the two guys with video cameras ample room to run around and provide footage for the two large video screens. Additionally, there were two more camera crews nestled above the front of the stage. I must applaud Neil Young for providing everyone with a great view of the show, even if they were sitting as far away as possible. Video screens should be mandatory.
Openers Everest reminded me why I like seeing live bands. They were a bit twangy, with catchy indie-pop songs and reminded me a fair bit of Wilco, the Jeff Tweedy-led Chicago band who had opened for several dates on the current Neil Young tour. I was impressed enough to buy their CD at the merchandise booth.
Death Cab For Cutie are currently among the cream of the crop indie bands and one of my favorites. Lead singer and guitarist Ben Gibbard has a distinctive voice and a dynamite stage presence. Unfortunately, for the first few songs, he had problems getting sound from his guitars. In fact, at one point, guitarist Chris Walla began making small talk with the audience, very obviously buying time as a tech tried to sort out Gibbard's guitar problems. As the sound problems continued, Gibbard actually threw his guitar to the ground and kicked over the suspect electronics gear that he thought was failing. The box was replaced but even as he was strumming, I thought there was no sound from his guitar. I was correct.
Eventually, the tech simply removed the replacement gear. Gibbard is an above average songwriter. On stage, when not singing, he made rapid staccato-like movements as he rapidly danced a bit before returning to the microphone. Death Cab For Cutie are one of the cool indie pop bands out there and have become as hip as what REM used to be, before they became mega-popular.
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