Watch Ben Gibbard Play The Cure, R.E.M., Spiritualized, & More In Another All-Covers Livestream

Watch Ben Gibbard Play The Cure, R.E.M., Spiritualized, & More In Another All-Covers Livestream

Death Cab For Cutie’s Ben Gibbard was an early adopter in the wave of livestreamed concerts that has arisen while many people isolate themselves in their homes to combat the spread of COVID-19. Sunday, for the 13th straight day, Gibbard sat down at home in Seattle and broadcast himself playing songs on YouTube. He said it’ll be his last daily webcast; he’s moving to weekly performances beginning this Thursday. As with last Sunday’s set, this one comprised all covers.

This time Gibbard started out with three icons of ’80s alternative rock. R..M.’s “Half A World Away” and the Cure’s “Just Like Heaven” gave way to Morrissey’s “Everyday Is Like Sunday,” which Gibbard prefaced with this disclaimer:

I think it’s important to mention before I play this song that just ’cause I’m going to play this song does not mean that I approve of this person’s recent politics or some of the terrible things they have said. And I would hope that as we move further into this world of putting people’s feet to the fire that we recognize that in a lot of cases we must separate the art from the artist in order to enjoy anything anymore. I wouldn’t name any names, of course, but I think there are a lot of people that you probably listen to on a daily basis that have done terrible things — myself not included, hopefully — but yeah, that have done bad things, illegal things with people who are very young. And yet we still listen to their music, and we don’t question it. So I think in this particular case, once again I must say that I’m doing this song because it’s a request and because I love this song. It’s one of my favorite fucking songs in the world. But do not take this as some kind of endorsement of this person’s politics.

The rest of the set included Hall & Oates’ “Out Of Touch,” the Magnetic Fields’ “Strange Powers,” Neil Young’s “Harvest Moon,” Kris Kristofferson and Rita Coolidge’s duet “Please Don’t Tell Me How The Story Ends,” Simon & Garfunkel’s “The Only Living Boy In New York,” and Spiritualized’s “Hold On.” During the Q&A section, Gibbard also answered Post Malone in response to a question about an artist he enjoys that people would be surprised about, and he explained why he doesn’t smoke weed (bad for his running regimen) or drink alcohol (he’s a recovering alcoholic). Watch it all play out below.

Gibbard also recently released the solo single “Life In Quarantine.”

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