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Death Cab For Cutie Surprised Chicago By Performing Transatlanticism In Full

Death Cab For Cutie

LAS VEGAS, NV – SEPTEMBER 21: Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie performs on Bacardi Sound of Rum Stage during the 2018 Life Is Beautiful Festival on September 21, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by FilmMagic/FilmMagic for Life Is Beautiful)

|FilmMagic

Death Cab For Cutie released Transatlanticism on Oct. 7, 2003. With a little help from Seth Cohen, it became their breakout album, and many -- including Ben Gibbard --still consider it their best (though our former colleague Claire Lobenfeld had other ideas).

As Reddit's indieheads forum points out, to celebrate the album's 15th anniversary last night in Chicago, the band decided to perform Transatlanticism's tracklist in full in the middle of their show at the Auditorium Theatre. According to setlist.fm, it marked the first time Death Cab have performed several of the album's songs in five or six years.

On Instagram, the band shared the evening's setlist along with this message: "Chicago, thank you for helping us throw a surprise 15th birthday party for 'Transatlanticism'. We can’t think of a better place to have done it. Thank you for always showing up for us."

Below, check out the setlist and watch footage from the show. And if you're looking to revel in more Death Cab nostalgia, we recently looked back on the 20th birthday of their debut Something About Airplanes and talked to Gibbard about the 10th anniversary of Narrow Stairs.

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