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Ben Gibbard will be working double shifts next summer when the two groups he fronts, Death Cab for Cutie and the Postal Service, embark on a double-anniversary tour. Each act will perform the album it released in 2003 — Death Cab’s Transatlanticism and the Postal Service’s influential Give Up — on each tour date.
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The tour’s general on-sale begins Dec. 16 at 10 a.m. local time. Various presales begin earlier in the week. Details are on the tour’s website.
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The Postal Service, whose membership includes Dntl’s Jimmy Tamborello and singer-songwriter Jenny Lewis, released Give Up on Feb. 18, 2003, and its new-wave influenced indie rock sound set the tone for synth pop for the next decade. Although largely an underground phenomenon, the singles “Such Great Heights” and “The District Sleeps Alone Tonight” helped drive the album up to Number 45 on Billboard’s albums chart and Number One on the Dance/Electronic Albums, Heatseekers, and Independent Albums charts. It was eventually certified platinum.
Death Cab’s Transatlanticism followed on Oct. 7, 2003, and became the band’s mainstream breakthrough, making it up to Number 97 on the albums chart and going gold. The single “The New Year” became one of the band’s set-list staples, and “The Sound of Settling,” “Title and Registration,” and the title track became canon for the group, which released its latest album, Asphalt Meadows, this year.
“I know for a fact I will never have a year again like 2003,” Gibbard said in a statement. “The Postal Service record came out, Transatlanticism came out. These two records will be on my tombstone, and I’m totally fine with that. I’ve never had a more creatively inspired year.”
Death Cab for Cutie/The Postal Service tour dates:
Sept. 8 – Portland, ME @ Cross Insurance Arena
Sept. 9 – Kingston, RI @ The Ryan Center
Sept. 10 – New Haven, CT @ Westville Music Bowl
Sept. 12 – Boston, MA @ MGM Music Hall
Sept. 13 – Boston, MA @ MGM Music Hall
Sept. 14 – Washington, DC @ Merriweather Post Pavilion
Sept. 17 – Detroit, MI @ Meadow Brook Amphitheater
Sept. 20 – New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
Sept. 21 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Mann Center
Sept. 24 – Minneapolis, MN @ Armory
Sept. 26 – Denver, CO @ Mission Ballroom
Sept. 27 – Denver, CO @ Mission Ballroom
Oct. 3 – Phoenix, AZ @ Arizona Financial Theatre
Oct. 4 – Las Vegas, NV @ The Chelsea Ballroom at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas
Oct. 7 – Seattle, WA @ Climate Pledge Arena
Oct. 10 – Berkeley, CA @ Greek Theatre – UC Berkeley
Oct. 13 – Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Bowl
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