Nostalgia often gets a bad rap in music. Bands getting together to perform older material instantly makes them easy targets. Surely though, no one can begrudge The Postal Service a belated victory lap. For those not in the know, The Postal Service was a collabaration between Death Cab For Cutie frontman Ben Gibbard, and Dntel's Jimmy Tamborello. They, of course, only made one record, the wonderful "Give Up", which reaches it's 10th anniversary this year. It's been somewhat of a slow burner, but has now sold over a million copies.
A look at their tour dates from 10 years ago shows that, while the USA got a reasonably substantial tour, the UK appeared to get one show at the 250 capacity Spitz venue. Here we are 10 years later and they've managed 2 nights at the somewhat larger Brixton Academy. Simple mathematics would indicate that the vast majority of the audience across the two nights haven't seen the band before. It feels more like a belated first album tour, than a simple exercise in reliving the past.
So how was it? Well, in theory it worked. Now swelled to a 4-piece including the beautiful Jenny Lewis (who contributed vocals to the original album), they've tried to make the show relatively "live". In the past Ben Gibbard had expressed concerns about watching 'a guy with a laptop' being dull for the audience, but in this post-Skrillex age, it's maybe a more commonplace sight, regardless of which, there was plenty of live instrumentation and a lovely light show.
The songs stood up well. "Nothing Better" was hammed-up by Ben and Jenny emphasising the both-sides-of-the-story narrative of the original. The original album was bolstered with a couple of bonus tracks from the new re-issue of "Give Up", and a Beat Happening cover was thrown in for good measure. Ben seemed in good shape, in good voice, and generally "in to it".
So this all would have been well and good were it not for the earth-shaking, head-pounding, arrhythmia-inducing bass. It felt like it was being mixed by a 14 year old dubstep fan. It sucked all the nuance and subtlety out of the songs, and was just plain uncomfortable. I saw a similar complaint regarding the Manchester show a couple of nights before, so whether it's an intentional band-sanctioned mix or not is unclear, but I seriously hope not. I endured about 40 minutes before giving up my prime spot and heading for the back. An absolute shame all round really, and a lesson that it only takes one factor out of place to derail an otherwise strong show.
For now, I'm certainly grateful The Postal Service album came into my life, but slightly concerned my love for it will be tarnished by the memory of such a dissapointing night.
"Give Up (10th Anniversary Edition)" is out now.
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