The opening band, Aveo, was not impressive. Although they displayed some good songwriting skills at times, most of their set consisted of bland, sometimes mushy songs with no catchy melodies and little originality. Their music was listenable but I've heard for than enough generic rock like this.

Before seeing Ben Kweller, I hadn't heard much besides his hit single, "Wasted and Ready". I thought "Wasted and Ready" sounded very derivative of Weezer's self-titled debut, but Kweller displayed a much wider variety of songs than I expected, sometimes reminding me quite a bit of Ben Folds. Most of what I heard sounded 60's-inspired with a modern flavor. Despite the fact that what I heard was better than what I had expected, not too much managed to stick with me. I will acknowledge the fact that Ben Kweller undoubtedly has talent but, as far as I'm concerned, he's borrowing too much from other artists and not coming up with anything too unique.

Death Cab For Cutie was another band I wasn't too familiar with but I had heard good things from my friends. I listened to their 2001 release, The Photo Album, in preparation and although it wasn't blow-me-away spectacular, I heard some genuinely good stuff. Death Cab opened with the first track from their new CD, Translatlanticism, called "New Year". This song blew me away. Most of The Photo Album was pretty mellow and this song was much harder and more upbeat than most of what I had heard before.

In addition to the high quality of their music, Death Cab's stage presence was entertaining and the band seemed to be having fun as well. They didn't seem cocky or nervous and they did a good job of keeping the crowd entertained the entire time, even though technical problems caused a pretty lengthy pause in their set.

Death Cab For Cutie was the only band there that sparked an interest in me. I plan on picking up Transatlanticism and I would recommend The Photo Album to anyone who listens to bands like the Postal Service or the Flaming Lips.