warning Hi, we've moved to USCANNENBERGMEDIA.COM. Visit us there!

Neon Tommy - Annenberg digital news

The Postal Service Delivers Nostalgia And New Tunes At The Greek Theatre

Lilian Min |
July 24, 2013 | 12:59 a.m. PDT

Music Editor

Among a certain set of the population, The Postal Service's debut (and only full-length) album "Give Up" is as much a seminal masterwork as "Revolver" or "The Wall."

And in the ten years since Ben Gibbard and Jimmy Tamborello's joint project released their snail mail collaboration, the cult of "Give Up" has (deservedly) gotten tremendous.

To the point that when the duo announced they'd be making music together again under the Postal Service moniker—Gibbard's a member of Death Cab for Cutie and Tamborello is Dntel—the Internet let out a collective squeal. And for a brief moment, we all actually believed that they were back together for realsies, especially after they dropped the poppy, peppy (but still quite sad)  "A Tattered Line of String":

But alas, it wasn't meant to be: instead of releasing a brand new LP, the Postal Service instead reissued "Give Up" with some new tracks in a tenth anniversary edition. But hey, new music is new music, and for those of us who've waited for any news of the band for the past couple of years, let alone a solid touring schedule and new songs, we'll take what we can get from these two princes of sad electronica.

The Postal Service began their two-day residency at the Greek Theatre Monday night with a set that spanned their limited discography and showcased just how potent their live act is.

Two opening acts went on before the Postal Service, and they were about as similar as peanut butter and Internet radio. Baths (aka Will Weisenfeld) delivered a bizarre, aurally hallucinatory listening trip, while Big Freedia, to the surprise and delight of many in the crowd, threw a 45-minute twerk party set to New Orleans-style "bounce music." This writer was initially perturbed in a good way... but there is such thing as too much of a "good" thing.

After the crowd cooled down from the Queen Diva's booty-shaking madness, the stage reset, and then on walked Gibbard, Tamborello, indie girl sweetheart Jenny Lewis, and on loan from The Mynabirds, Laura Burhenn.

The four musicians in the current Postal Service touring crew (wish you were here, Jen Wood) knew exactly what the crowd expected them to deliver, and so they followed through, playing heartachingly nostalgic tune after heartachingly nostalgic tune.

Whether they were running through renditions of original "Give Up" jams "The District Sleeps Alone Tonight" or new tunes like "Be Still My Heart" and "There's Never Enough Time" (or a cover of Beat Happening's "Our Secret," which has been in their touring lineup recently), the Postal Service, fueled by Tamborello's bubbling, effervescent beats, Lewis's pixie-girl-jams-hard swagger, and Gibbard's earnest playing and singing, crooned their melodious melancholy to the sold out crowd.

Gibbard and co. played through most of the tunes from "Give Up," and while nothing sounded bad, certain tunes stood out in their live execution.

"Nothing Better" inspired the biggest crowd singalong with Lewis's over-it female verse (with "Such Great Heights" coming in a close second); "Clark Gable" and "This Place Is A Prison" benefitted from the depth of sound provided by live drums (courtesy of Gibbard); and "Natural Anthem," with its frenetic, intricate instrumentals, boomed out from the stage in dramatic swoops and waves of sound.

After a quick "encore" break following "Natural Anthem," the Postal Service came back on stage to deliver a potent one-two closing punch. "(This Is) The Dream of Evan and Chan," aka the Postal Service song that never was, played out beautifully—especially with the added company of Lewis's throaty voice. 

The night's show wrapped with a sparkling run through of "Brand New Colony," and with Gibbard's lyrical plea of "Everything will change" still ringing in everybody's ears, the starry-eyed crowd departed Griffith Park having tuned into one of the best albums of all time, performed by a band that never quite lived up to its initial boundless potential.

Read more of NT's show reviews here.

Reach Music Editor Lilian Min here; follow her on Twitter here and on Google+ here.



 

Buzz

Craig Gillespie directed this true story about "the most daring rescue mission in the history of the U.S. Coast Guard.”

Watch USC Annenberg Media's live State of the Union recap and analysis here.

 
ntrandomness