Kevin Bronson on April 15th, 2013

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Who: The Postal Service on the main stage
In 3 or Fewer Words: Signed, sealed, delivered.
Memorable Because: “We’re an imaginary band called the Postal Service,” Ben Gibbard said halfway through the band’s turn on the big stage. Imaginary? No. Accidental? Yes, the happiest of accidents. Ten years after their shot-in-the-dark album “Give Up” blew up – and longer than that since we caught beatmaker Jimmy Tamborello’s monthly “sad music” L.A. club nights called Give Up – the trio took a prime main-stage slot and made people cry tears of joy. Ah, the power of EDM (Emo Dance Music). The laws of scarcity made this a must-see for many festival-goers; the Postal Service, the side project that Gibbard, Tamborello and Jenny Lewis wedged in around their day jobs in Death Cab for Cutie, Dntel and Rilo Kiley, respectively, hardly toured even in what you might call their heyday. They obviously put their time in working on how to present their glitchy songs in concert – rarely has such introspective music sounded so big live, and the vocals and interplay from Lewis and Gibbard were sublime. “Such Great Heights,” “Clark Gable,” and “Brand New Colony,” along with new songs “A Tattered Line of String” and “Turn Around,” inspired a lawn full of hand-holding, if not full-on make-out parties. It’s fantastic that the Postal Service have not become silhouettes.
What I’d Tell My Friends Who Were at the Descendents: You must not have been on a date, huh?
– K.B. (Photo by Scott Dudelson)