Death Cab For Cutie performs at House of Blues Anaheim on Oct. 18, 2022. Chas Alm/STAFF.

ANAHEIM — Nearing the tail end of its tour supporting a new album, Death Cab for Cutie sold out House of Blues Tuesday night.

The band was full of energy, with frontman Ben Gibbard jumping and dancing as he played and sang. The set leaned heavily on new album Asphalt Meadows, beginning with current hit “I Don’t Know How I Survive” and bombastic “Roman Candles.”

There was something for fans of every era, though, as Death Cab followed with “The New Year” from Transantlanticism, “Cath” from Narrow Stairs and “A Movie Script Ending” from The Photo Album. Death Cab for Cutie has been around for 25 years and is now on its 10th album, so the band has a huge catalog to draw from. Not everyone got to hear their favorite song; there just wasn’t time.

The band maneuvered deftly from song to song, requiring very little between-song banter from Gibbard. You might not think of Death Cab for Cutie when considering bands that rock, but it delivered rock-show bombast with an indie rock sensibility.

Death Cab For Cutie performs at House of Blues Anaheim on Oct. 18, 2022.

The middle section of the show was particularly well received: many sang along with “Black Sun,” Gibbard’s moving meditation on divorce from 2015’s Kintsugi. “I Miss Strangers,” from the new album, was particularly poignant now that crowds can gather again with its lockdown-era lyrics, “These days I miss strangers more than I/ More than I miss my friends.” The audience clearly seemed happy to be out and among strangers on Tuesday.

On “I’ll Follow You Into the Dark,” from 2005’s Plans, Gibbard performed alone, playing an acoustic guitar. Partway through, he asked the crowd to sing a chorus. Fans indulged him, singing along loudly.

“Rand McNally,” despite being a newer song, seemed to particularly resonate with its moving chorus, “Don’t let the light fade/ I won’t let the light fade.” Some may have been nostalgic for the atlases and phone booths Gibbard sings about in the song, but judging by the number of cell phones held up during the show, it was probably not too many.

Death Cab For Cutie performs at House of Blues Anaheim on Oct. 18, 2022.

Gibbard got behind a piano for “I Will Possess Your Heart.” The band played the full version of the Narrow Stairs song, including the wordless jammy intro, and the crowd was very into it. The reception was also rapturous for “You Are a Tourist,” the only song from Codes and Keys.

The band left the stage after “Foxglove Through the Clearcut,” from Asphalt Meadows, but returned for a four-song encore. Fans of 2000 album We Have the Facts and We’re Voting Yes were finally rewarded during this section with “405.” Death Cab for Cutie closed with “Soul Meets Body,” from Plans.

Gibbard was in fine voice all evening, and the band sounded better than ever. Gibbard switched between an electric and an acoustic guitar when he wasn’t at the piano. Guitarist Dave Depper had great tones, switching between two Fano guitars and a Rickenbacker. The band’s lineup has changed a few times, but the current musicians played like they’ve always been together, with the rhythm section locked in and precise.

Critical darlings Yo La Tengo opened the show. Frontman Ira Kaplan began on an organ before switching to guitar for the rest of the set. The indie trio was received politely if not totally enthusiastically by the audience in the full-to-bursting venue. Bassist James McNew took over singing duties on a song, with a vocal delivery reminiscent of Neil Young.

Follow writer Rachel Alm at Twitter.com/thouzenfold and Instagram.com/thousandfold. Follow photographer Chas Alm at Twitter.com/U2JT and Instagram.com/chedgepics.