Ben Gibbard

watch Ben Gibbard pay tribute to Adam Schlesinger with Fountains of Wayne cover

As promised, Ben Gibbard resumed his series of solo acoustic livestreams last night (4/2), which now happen Thursdays at 9 PM ET instead of daily. During last night’s stream, Ben paid tribute to Fountains of Wayne’s Adam Schlesinger, who tragically passed away due to COVID-19 complications earlier this week. Ben covered “Barbara H” from Fountains of Wayne’s self-titled 1996 debut, and he said:

I owe [Adam] a huge debt of gratitude because he was integral in picking “Me and Magdalena” for The Monkees to record four years ago. And I always thought — as one does in life — that I’d have plenty of time to say thank you or I love you or give a compliment, and that day obviously did not come. But, from the bottom of my heart, I am so grateful to him for helping me realize a lifelong dream, which was to write a song that would be recorded by The Monkees, a band that I grew up listening to.

Ben also played a handful of Death Cab For Cutie songs, including a set-closing rendition of “Song for Kelly Huckaby,” which Ben said he wrote about a road trip with Chris Walla and their friend Kelly Huckaby where they just listened to Fountains of Wayne’s debut album in the car over and over. Watch his whole set and see the setlist below. The Fountains of Wayne section starts at the 40:55 mark.

Ben promotes a different charity during each of his livestreams, and this one was MusiCares. Tune in his for next livestream Thursday, April 9 at 9 PM ET.

Setlist
Lightness (Death Cab for Cutie song)
Everything’s a Ceiling (Death Cab for Cutie song)
The Ghosts of Beverly Drive (Death Cab for Cutie song)
A Hard One to Know
When We Drive (Death Cab for Cutie song)
Passenger Seat (Death Cab for Cutie song)
Pictures in an Exhibition (Death Cab for Cutie song)
Barbara H. (Fountains of Wayne cover)
Song for Kelly Huckaby (Death Cab for Cutie song)