We missed the opening band, The Cribs, so I can't I don't have anything to say about them.  But I will say that a 7:30 start time is a little ridiculous...  I usually don't leave work until then.   So we arrived shortly after The Cribs finished and of course could not get a drink.  Though Constitution Hall has a seating capacity of over 3,700 people, they only have 3 bar stations in the entire venue, with 2 bartenders each.   I've been to wedding receptions with more bartenders.  Of course, the drink line becomes a 30 minute ordeal, discouraging you from drinking altogether.  And after 3o minutes of waiting in line to get your drink, you can't even take it into the theater to your seat since they don't allow food or drink.  Wack.

Franz Ferdinand opened with "Do You Want To,"  and continued with an equal mix off of both of their albums, including some new stuff.  Noticeably, some of their songs don't translate well live.  "In the Dark of the Matinee" and "This Fire" were great, but "Take Me Out" sounded terrible to me.  "Eleanor, Put Your Boots Back On" and the other slower stuff sounded great, but some of the other loud, jangly songs sound muttled and hollow.  Part of it may be a bad sound guy, part of it may be the acoustics in Constitution hall.  All in all it was a good show, and they definitely have a great stage presence.

Death Cab opened with "Passenger Seat" and segued into "Different Names for the Same Thing"  (I think.  I'm having trouble remembering the set list order, but I'm sure you can find that elsewhere if you care).   I was surprised at how the mix was Transatlanticism heavy, including "The New Year, Title and Registration, Expo '86, The Sound of Settling, Transatlanticism, and We Looked Like Giants."  I have to say, though, the song that stole the show was "What Sarah Said."  It's just so haunting.  As with the last few times I've seen them, the encore included "I Will Follow You Into the Dark," which I'm pretty sure everyone in the world knows the words to by now.  Unlike FF, Death Cab's sound was phenomenal.  Perhaps their music is more amenable to that venue, or maybe their sound guy is a fucking master, but everything was crystal clear and perfectly mixed.  It still amazes me how they're able to recreate their albums almost perfectly live. 

So in summary:  Cribs = ???, FF = Great, Death Cab = Fucking awesome, Constitution Hall = sucktacular 

UPDATE:  Though we have flip flopped opinions on the bands, The Upstate Life and I agree that Constitution Hall sucks.