From the initial long distance collaboration between Ben Gibbard and Jimmy Tamborello that created 2003’s sleeper classic Give Up to the current reunion tour celebrating the platinum album’s 10th anniversary and packing houses from New York’s Barclays Center to the Greek Theatres of Los Angeles and Berkeley… The Postal Service has now had its unique journey examined and chronicled by The Creators Project, a partnership between Intel and VICE. Viewers are given an intimate look at the band and its process: from the dressing room to the digital (re)construction of the music to the moment the band takes the stage.
Directed by Justin Mitchell, this is a one of a kind look at one of the most beloved acts of the past decade. Mitchell says of the project: “I‘ve been looking for a project to use prisms on for a while and much like the multiple frames, I think they help to support the story of the band. For me the prisms represent a gathering of all the disparate energies that propelled the album upwards and onwards during the last ten years. The band might be the center of the image and the focus but for ten years they allowed Give Up to live its own life and somehow, all that outside energy resulted in a platinum album. Now, as Ben says, they get to reclaim it and I think the prism (which just looked so much cooler in slow motion) helps to show that. ” Read the rest of the interview with Justin Mitchell on The Creators Project: http://thecreatorsproject.vice.com/blog/capturing-the-postal-service-on-their-reunion-tour
Check out the video here: http://youtu.be/MoSP7lNJTqk
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The Postal Service has spent the spring and summer traversing the States playing to sold out arenas, theaters and festival grounds nationwide. The ongoing 10th anniversary tour commemorating the Give Up Deluxe 10th Anniversary Edition (Sub Pop) has recently included stops at Coachella, Denver’s Red Rocks Amphitheater, Seattle’s Key Arena and a late night appearance on The Colbert Report. The tour continues with two-night stints at The Greek Theater in both Los Angeles and Berkeley, CA. The band will wrap up the most nostalgic tour of the summer with a set at Lollapolooza and subsequent sold out after show at The Metro in Chicago.
The tour has elicited rave reviews from critics across the country including, but not limited to:
“If last night’s Barclays Center show, part of a tour thrown to celebrate the reissue of Give Up, proved anything, it’s that their fans love them just as much as they ever have… the band’s arena-sized show managed to sound current despite its sentimental undertones – and relevant even to today’s indie-pop landscape, for that matter… at Barclays’ 18,000-seat venue, the show became about purging (feelings! memories!) en masse. Everyone from the VIP to the far-reaching corners of the stadium sang along to ‘Such Great Heights,’ aligning the starry emotions beaming out from their loving, freckled eyes with the distant glare reflected from Gibbard’s guitar… drowning in the echoes of the thousands of fans singing back to them, I thought about how absolutely laughable the idea of a successor was. No one could ever be the Postal Service except for the Postal Service.”–ROLLING STONE
“The place wasn’t tiny; it was the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, and the arena was sold out for the first of two shows there. It’s at least an order of magnitude larger perfectly current, and perfectly settled. There was no need to tamper with an accurate prophecy.”–THE NEW YORK TIMES
“The staccato melody lifted into soaring highs…Gibbard directed the crowd into an a cappella repeat of the chorus… Everyone in the building knew each and every word.” – AUSTIN CHRONICLE
“On a night when the Rolling Stones were blasting through a greatest hits showcase at the Garden and the Bruins were battling the Blackhawks in game one of the Stanley Cup finals, this was clearly THE place to be in Boston.” – BOSTON HERALD
“Such a charmed trajectory, almost implausible in today’s fragmented musical environment, is more or less the truth of what happened to Gibbard and collaborator Jimmy Tamborello who released the Postal Service’s one and only album, Give Up, to critical acclaim in 2003. At Barclays, the duo — joined by RIlo Kiley singer Jenny lewis — gave new life to that beloved collection of pensive and ebullient electro-pop songs, triggering a rare nostalgia high for assembled fans… tantalizingly sweet.” – BILLBOARD
“This material is densely packed with ethereal instrumentation, propulsive rhythms and evocative wordplay, a combination that’s built to last…On stage adorned with gorgeous pillars of light, Gibbard, Tamborello, Lewis and Burhenn executed intricate turns between dance-worthy beats and evocative melodies, turning on dime from moodiness to mayhem.” – ORLANDO SENTINEL
“the band delivered on the nostalgia of fans who’ve had but one Postal Service album to obsess over while coming of age (or simply aging). The surprise was just how loud, grand and epic it played in a large venue.” – WILLAMETTE WEEKLY
The Postal Service On Tour:
07/24/13 – Los Angeles, CA – Greek Theater ^
07/26/13 – Berkeley, CA – Greek Theatre (SOLD OUT) %
07/27/13 – Berkeley CA – Greek Theater^
07/30/13 – Kansas City MO – Midland Theater #
07/31/13 – Kansas City MO – Midland Theater (SOLD OUT) #
08/02/13 – St. Paul MN – Roy Wilkins Auditorium #
08/03/13 – Chicago, IL – Lollapalooza
08/04/13 – Chicago, IL – Metro
# Mates Of State support
% Big Freedia supports
^ Divine Fits supports
About The Creators Project:
Founded by a revolutionary partnership between Intel and VICE, The Creators Project celebrates and supports visionary artists across multiple disciplines who are using technology in innovative ways to push the boundaries of creative expression. Launched in 2010, The Creators Project includes daily video and editorial content, an official YouTube Channel, and original artwork commissions. To date, there are more than 500 Creators from around the world. Participating artists include Karen O, M83, Benh Zeitlin, Animal Collective, The xx, Chris Milk, Florence and the Machine, Spike Jonze, Amon Tobin, Matt Pyke, Anthony Wong, Supermarche, United Visual Artists, Sticky Monster Lab, Takeshi Murata, Andrew Huang, Vega Zaishi Wang, Mick Rock, David Bowie and Barney Clay.
