Death Cab For Cutie‘s Ben Gibbard has covered some of Morrissey’s songs when taking to the stage with a Smiths tribute band. Check out footage below.
The event took place as part of the 2026 edition of San Francisco comedy festival, SF Sketch Fest, which saw the ‘90s MTV comedy group The State hold multiple live performances to celebrate their Wet Hot American Summer cult film turning 25 this year.
Performances kicked off at San Francisco’s Great American Music Hall last week, with an opening night from the cover band, The Middle Aged Dad Jam Band. The line-up included Shudder To Think’s Craig Wedren – who also wrote music for the MTV show and the cult film – as well as other cast members including Janeane Garofalo, and Marguerite Moreau, Michael Ian Black, and Joe Lo Truglio.
The next night the band took to the stage again, but this time focused on Billy Joel covers and introduced State’s Thomas Lennon as a special guest.
Then, the night after, Lennon held an event of his own with Smiths tribute band called the Sweet And Tender Hooligans. Joining them at the Music Hall was Death Cab For Cutie’s Ben Gibbard, who took to the stage for multiple renditions of songs.
Among those was a cover of the classic Smiths song ‘The Boy With The Thorn In His Side’, as well as the fan-favourite ‘There Is A Light That Never Goes Out’. interestingly, this wasn’t the first time that we have seen Gibbard cover the latter, as he and his Death Cab bandmates also performed an acoustic version of it for Radio 104.5 back in 2008.
Elsewhere at the show in San Francisco, Gibbard also played a solo track from Morrissey called ‘The Last Of The Famous International Playboys’ alongside the Smiths cover band.
Other guest performers joining Gibbard on the night included the Go-Go’s Jane Wiedlin, and comedians Natasha Leggero, Ana Gasteyer and Tony Hale. Check out more footage of the night below.
As highlighted by Stereogum, it is no secret that Ben Gibbard and his Death Cab For Cutie bandmates are big Smiths fans. Previously, they had ‘This Charming Man’ featured on the reissue of their 1997 demo ‘You Can Play These Songs With Chords’, and they also performed a cover of Morrissey’s song ‘Everyday Is Like Sunday’ during the COVID lockdown in 2020.
The appearance at the San Francisco event comes just days after the band announced their signing to ANTI- and shared news of a 2026 North American tour.
The move to the label – which has other artists including Fleet Foxes, MJ Lenderman, and Waxahatchee – sees them return to their independent roots, and the tour will kick off in Minneapolis on July 10. Those headline dates will see them joined by Japanese Breakfast, Nation of Language, and Jay Som.
Tickets go on sale this Friday (January 30) and you can buy tickets here.
The upcoming shows come on the heels of Death Cab embarking on a series of shows to mark the 20th anniversary of their 2005 album ‘Plans’ last year. The record marked their major label debut, went platinum and also earned the band their first Grammy nominations.
