“I try to explain, but I’m not an eloquent man.” These ever-impactful lyrics from Murder by Death’s (MBD) song “Ghost Fields” have been lingering the past few days as the emotions of this evening have settled. The rawness and the beauty that was seeing MBD perform their final Seattle dates can't truly be put into words, alas, I will try.

MBD announced earlier this year that they will be retiring from extensive touring after 25 years and will henceforth exclusively play their annual Cave show at The Caverns in Tennessee. So on the 23rd and 24th of October, MBD brought their Farewell Tour through Seattle, playing in front of back-to-back sold-out crowds at The Crocodile.

As the lights dimmed and the darkness settled, the evening began with a slow title crawl sequence welcoming fans to the Farewell Tour and acknowledging that, although bittersweet, the evening would be a celebratory and joyful wake. The evening was just that. It felt less like a goodbye and more like a warm embrace amongst family. As the title crawl faded into the abyss, the members of MBD Adam Turla (lead vocals/guitar), Sarah Balliet (cello), Dagan Thogerson (drums), David Fountain (piano/percussion/mandolin/banjo/lap steel/trumpet/accordion/backing vocals… woo, David does it all), Tyler Morse (bass/backing vocals), and Emma Tiemann (violin) graced the stage for the band’s 1,934th show.

As the band entered, they were met with overwhelming joy and applause, which Adam quickly joked, "Alright, time to get sad and spooky” in typical MBD fashion, and opened with the song “Riders.” As part of the Farewell tour, MBD crafted a setlist that encapsulated their 10 recordswith roughly 2 or more songs from each. Notably, they included “Foxglove” (a song, that when I first heard it, made me immediately wish I could go back in time to shake sense into my 14-year-old self to not drop out of orchestra due to Sarah’s beautiful cello arrangement, complimented even more so now by the addition of Emma’s flawless violin) and “Lose You” off of their most recent 2025 record Egg & Dart. MBD took fans on a sentimental journey during “Lose You” as photos of the band's history were displayed on the backdrop, causing many, including myself, to “aww” and fight back tears. Midway through the set, fans were treated to MBD’s secret song (not so secret to the MBD cult following), a song typically only played due to fans’ request, which Adam segwayed into by saying, “By now, if you’ve seen us before, then you know what’s gonna happen: Pizza Party!” Fans immediately reacted the way anyone would expect at the prospect of a pizza party, they shouted and hands went flying towards the roof as MBD danced around joyfully serenading “Pizza Party! (at Gloria Estefan’s House).”

As the night rolled on, time finally came for Murder by Death’s final goodbye to Seattle with their song “Alas.” The crowning moment of this joyful wake, where the band and the audience were one. All coming together smiling, crying, and knowing that in this moment we had each other with hearts full as Adam sang out, “When shall I return? I confess I don’t know / What’s around the bend? What's left to unfold? / I could promise you the moon brought down with a lasso / I need to stay, but alas… I must go.” Murder by Death took their final bow in Seattle.