Sunday, April 11, 2010

[reveiw] Spoon @ Moore Theater (4-10-2010)

photo cred: drake lelane

Another Great Spoon Performance

Out of all the bands I've seen live, there's probably only a handful that I've seen as much as Spoon. Having a good idea of what Spoon can sound like, and what songs they decide to play each set, I feel comfortable with my assessment of their performances. Last night, Spoon concluded their pair of headlining shows at the Moore Theater this weekend here in Seattle.

Kicking the night off with a chilling, solo-acoustic performance of "Me and the Bean," the Girls Can Tell classic has never sounded better. For the second song of the night, keyboardist/multi-instrumental extraordinaire Eric Harvey joined lead singer Britt Daniel on stage for stripped-down version of "Mystery Zone." This song is probably my least favorite off their new LP Transference, however, hearing it played acoustically may have changed my mind. By the third song, drummer Jim Eno and bassist Rob Pope had rounded out the line-up for a highly cathartic rendition of "Written In Reverse." By now, the energy was building inside the Moore, and riding the wave of crowd energy, Spoon catapulted into the steady-rocker "Got Nuffin'." Unfortunately, the bass monitors were cranked so high that you couldn't really hear Daniel's howls. I was sad because in Portland this song was the highlight of the night, but last night it was essentially a 3 minute drum and bass line. The band quickly recovered with a Gimme Fiction-favorite, "Mathematical Mind," and then proceeded to tear through Fiction's "Don't Make Me A Target," Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga's "The Ghost of You Lingers," Tranference's "Who Makes Your Money," and Kill the Moonlight's "Small Stakes." It was quite the Spoon sampler package!

The highlight of the night (for me, at least), was Spoon's cover of Wolf Parade's "Modern World." For those of you who read this blog (all two of you), it's apparent that there's two bands that I'm really obsessed with: Spoon and Wolf Parade (plus all WP off-shoots). If someone were to tell me that I'd end up witnessing the mash-up of these two bands, I would have told them they were crazy. But I saw it with my own eyes, and it was magnificent. Now, if only Wolf Parade could cover a Spoon song this July and my life would be complete.

The rest of the night was finished with a solid song selection. Hearing "Finer Feelings" live fulfilled another hope of the night, and it sounded great live. The band finished their first set with another acoustic performance, this time for "Black Like Me." And after a quick break, the band returned to play a 4-song encore: "Vittorio E.," "Back To The Life," "Way We Get By," and "Don't You Evah." In total, Spoon played 23 songs on the night!

One thing I've noted in the years attending Spoon shows is that the confidence in Britt Daniel has only grown. Admittedly, I never got to see a live Spoon performance until their Kill the Moonlight tour, however, even then Daniel didn't have the swagger he wears to shows these days. There's sense of happiness on stage, too, like he's honestly having a lot of fun - and why not? Spoon is playing the music they want to play (Transference was recorded without an outside producer's influence) without pandering to a preconceived notion of who their audience is, and they are touring to the largest crowd sizes in the band's history. What more could you ask for as an independent artist?

So to sum up last night's show at the Moore Theater, I think it's best song selections I've ever experienced, though their sound wasn't quite on par with some other shows I've attended. That's not to say that they sounded badly, I just think some songs had way too much bass ("Got Nuffin") or not enough vocals. I will state that I wasn't in prime seating (right in front of the sound board), so maybe this was a non-issue for the lower seating section. But all that said, it was a great show none-the-less. A full set list is posted below:

Spoon set list @ Moore Theater (4-10-2010)
Me and the Bean (acoustic)
Mystery Zone (acoustic)
Written In Reverse
Got Nuffin'
Mathematical Mind
Don't Make Me A Target
The Ghost of You Lingers
Who Makes Your Money
Small Stakes
Modern World (Wolf Parade cover)
Is Love Forever?
Someone Something
Beast and Dragon, Adored
They Never Got You
I Summon You
Finer Feelings
Nobody Gets Me But You
Underdog
Black Like Me

Encore:
Vittorio E.
Back To The Life
Way We Get By
Don't You Evah

1 comments:

jho said...

Very cool, can't beat two nights of Britt Daniel and company. And good setlists to boot.