The Postal Service, Lifestyle Communities Pavilion, Columbus, Ohio

Indie pop legends reunite

There aren’t too many bands that I would drive 5+ hours to see, but considering the elusiveness of the Postal Service over the past decade, I thought that I should make the commitment because I might not ever have the opportunity to do so again. The Postal Service started as a side project of vocalist Ben Gibbard (of Death Cab for Cutie) and producer Jimmy Tamborello (of Dntel and Headset) with Jenny Lewis (of Rilo Kiley) on background vocals/keyboards and samplers. After Ben joined Jimmy on a Dntel song, the pair decided to pull a full album together with additional support from Jenny. Since their collaboration was built upon tracks mailed back and forth to each other, they decided on the moniker, The Postal Service. Their sole album to date, Give Up (2003), went platinum and ended up being arguably more critically and commercially successful than any other projects that any of the band members have undertaken individually. After a brief initial tour, the Postal Service did not resurface for the next 10 years until rereleasing a deluxe version of their album and a previously unreleased B-Side. With the announcement of a new national tour, I resolved to see them somewhere along their path, as they might once again disappear for another decade or altogether.

After a long drive out to Columbus from Chicago, we arrived an hour before doors to a line down the block. I was hoping to be fairly close to the stage, but didn’t feel the need to be in the front row or anything. While standing in line, an employee of a bar that was connected to the venue approached the crowd and informed us that we could enter directly from his establishment, a great find. While waiting for the doors to open, we sipped beers and entered the venue promptly when the doors opened, ending up in the second row only slightly off the left. I almost felt bad that we were standing directly behind and to the side of people that had been waiting nearly all day…almost.

The Postal Service, now with four touring members, hit the stage as the sun set. Founding members Ben Gibbard and Tamborello were of course present. Ben provided lead vocals and mostly played the guitar, switching over to drums on a few songs. As when I’ve seen him before with Death Cab for Cutie, he is still the sweatiest man alive. Jimmy, completely unassuming in appearance, mostly hid behind a pair of laptops and it was difficult to see what he was doing. Also joining them onstage was quasi-member Jenny Lewis, whose identity I was uncertain about until she was introduced by Ben. She sang backup and dueted with Ben a bit. She also ventured to the front of the stage to interact with the audience. The band was also joined onstage by Laura Burhenn, founder of the indie pop band The Mynabirds, in the back on piano. She looked kind of like Nico and had no interaction with the audience or seemingly the rest of the band.

I didn’t realize when we picked our spot, but we happened to be standing right in front of a huge subwoofer. When the opener played, it was a bit loud, but when the Postal Service began their set, the volume was turned up, and it was almost deafening. I was thankful for my earplugs and pitied everyone who didn’t have a set. I also took a step back off the front metal railing and platform, as it was vibrating. There were some songs for which the intense bass added to the song , in particular “Natural Anthem”, while for other songs it somewhat detracted from the song,  especially a few songs towards the beginning while my ears were still adjusting to the levels. There were others for which it made little difference.

Despite the band not having extensive touring experience together, they seemed to have good chemistry and put together a cohesive show, playing off each other well. They were notable departures from the studio versions, but few extended jams.

The set list was pretty great; it was pretty obvious since they don’t have a very deep catalog, but it was still pretty great. They played all ten songs from their original album as well as the four B-Sides that have been released over the years, including as part of the recent rerelease. They also played “(This Is) The Dream of Evan and Chan,” the original Dntel song featuring Ben Gibbard which kicked off the whole project as well as one cover from indie pop pioneers Beat Happening. After a very short encore break, which is always appreciated, they ended the evening on “Brand New Colony,” my favorite Postal Service song, though definitely not their most commercially successful or widely known. The main set was about hour and ten minutes long with the whole show clocking in well under an hour and half.

Overall, the show was great, not in the top tier of shows that I’ve seen, but great. Considering my intense love for Give Up in its entirety, I can’t quite put my finger on what prevented it from reaching that top tier. The only thing I can think of is that it was just a bit too loud, and the overall quality of sound wasn’t quite as perfect as I would have hoped.

Setlist
The District Sleeps Alone Tonight
We Will Become Silhouettes
Sleeping In
Turn Around
Nothing Better
Recycled Air
Be Still My Heart
Clark Gable
Our Secret (Beat Happening Cover)
This Place Is a Prison
There's Never Enough Time
A Tattered Line of String
Such Great Heights
Natural Anthem
Encore:
(This Is) The Dream of Evan and Chan
Brand New Colony