By Crystal K. Wiebe

The outdoor venue that hosts Death Cab for Cutie’s nighttime performance in Kansas City isn’t an amphitheater. City Market is just a big open plaza surrounded by ethnic restaurants and local boutiques. The concrete ground doesn’t slope, although there are elevated and covered areas where fruit and vegetable peddlers set up during weekend farmers markets. That translates to bad sightlines for most of the crowd, save for the superfans in the crush at the front of the stage and the freeloaders gazing down from apartment balconies across the street.

But it’s OK. Those who can catch but fleeting glimpses of Ben Gibbard & Co. over and between the heads of strangers need only close their eyes. Death Cab for Cutie is one of those bands that manages to sound exactly like the records. Gibbard’s clear, thin tenor never falters as he waxes on with raw honesty about interpersonal hopes and failures. And not even the instrumental jams – like the extended intro to new single “I Will Possess Your Heart” – are spontaneous.

The set begins with “Bixby Canyon Bridge,” the first track on Death Cab’s new album, Narrow Stairs, released just days before. As the song builds to a climax, a giant reproduction of the artwork for Narrow Stairs lowers behind the band and the stage lights burn purple. The crowd roars. The next couple of songs are older – “New Year” and “Why You’d Want to Live Here.” The setlist cherrypicks the best from the band’s handful of albums. But the selection ultimately draws heavily from Narrow Stairs. Gibbard remains stationed at stage right, his light brown, chin-length hair flopping when he sings. When he gets to the line “He was always distracted” on new song, “Remainder,” Gibbard playfully points to bandmate Nick Harmer.

Of course, it’s the most familiar songs, especially those from Death Cab’s 2005 Atlantic Records breakthrough Plans, that stir the most audience response. “Crooked Teeth” and “Soul Meets Body” inspire mass singalongs; hundreds of cell phones light up during “I Will Follow You Into the Dark.” No doubt some of the Death Cab fans who got hooked back in the band’s Barsuk days resent these clichéd pop moments a little. But in crossing over to a major label, Death Cab hasn’t been watered down that much. If increasingly accessible, the material remains cerebral. Gibbard may bounce – and smile – as he leads catchy choruses, but everyone’s singing about some heavy, and fairly universal, realizations. Like how over time, the clouds of passing years can kill the optimist inside (“No Sunshine”). At one point, I spot a girl wiping tears from her eyes.

Others react to the emotionally-laden songs differently. Throughout the set, bodies rise up and roll roughly across top of the crowd. Most of them, including the guy who crashes onto my friends during “Crooked Teeth,” seem a little big and a little old to be surfing. Still others hoot, holler and cheer with obnoxious excitement between songs. Because when combined with starlight, warm weather and friends, Death Cab’s indie rock can make even life’s saddest truths somehow enjoyable.