Review | The Postal Service and Death Cab for Cutie Bring the Best Possible Kind of Nostalgia to the Santa Barbara Bowl

It can be a hard pill to swallow when you look back on a song or movie you loved in your youth and, upon viewing it in adulthood, realize it’s not as good as you remembered. Thankfully, The Postal Service/Death Cab for Cutie anniversary tour lived up to every dreamy, emotional, obsessive memory, and in the case of last Saturday’s dynamic show (on Oct. 14 at the Santa Barbara Bowl), exceeded their sepia-toned past in vibrant color.

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The year was 2003 when Ben Gibbard reached such great heights coming out with Death Cab for Cutie’s acclaimed chronicle of long-distance love “Transatlanticism” and his electro-pop side project Postal Service’s hypnotizing “Give Up.” Fast-forward 20 years later and the hype is still there and rightly justified. The Santa Barbara Bowl was packed with fans of all ages looking to relive these musical gifts of their past. Death Cab for Cutie’s set kicked off with the attention-grabbing chords of “The New Year,” with a band all in black, letting the music do the talking. Taking us through the heartbreak of “Transatlanticism” with poetic tear-jerkers like “Passenger Seat” and of course the title track, in all his earnestness, Gibbard’s undeniable joy in performing, bopping around the stage with gusto, was palpable.

Concert-goers had enough time to dry their eyes and grab a brew before The Postal Service charged out. The four-person band was draped all in white, perhaps a signal of peace — or at least a nod to the incandescence to come. Kicking off with “ The District Sleeps Alone Tonight,” I was transported back to my room, to a lime green Sony Boom Box, and the world of imagination that song spurred me and so many others into. The minimal electronic sounds in the beginning and Jenny Lewis’s voice wafting in like a big, glorious hug, caused the crowd to erupt in a Yes, this is just how I remembered it, kind of knowing cheer. 

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The hits came relentlessly with “Such Great Heights” soaring in next. Every song was a highlight, but it was especially sweet to see Lewis and Gibbard’s back and forth banter on “Nothing Better,” hamming it up in a way that reminded me of John Travolta and Olivia Newton John in Grease. Lewis, in a flowing white dress and what appeared to be a cape was a pure goddess. While I always loved her solo/Rilo Kiley work, I forgot how absolutely essential she was to the Postal Service equation. Rocking out in delight, it was hard to tell who was having a better time — Lewis, Gibbard, or the audience.

For an encore the duo performed an acoustic version of “Such Great Heights” and then the full band ushered in another dance party with Depeche Mode’s “Enjoy the Silence.” As we bopped down the hill with a spring in our step, we nestled comfortably into the fact that, somehow after all these years, the bands still sound incredible. While our world is rapidly changing, and the night’s set certainly carried an air of nostalgia, there’s no denying that great music will always have a way of seating us firmly in the present. 

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