Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Spoon At The Fillmore: Night Two

If night one was a taste of Spoon as showmen, then night two was most certainly showing off Spoon as a band. The set was shorter, the songs were tighter, and the overall vibe was much more about four guys in a rock band looking to blow you out of the water.

Openers The Heavenly States played another tight opening set - it's a real treat to have an opener that has a ton of energy and is fun to watch. Consider it a bonus that these folks are a local band, and have an awesome new record to boot. We picked up their latest, Delayer, last night, and are psyched to see these guys again tonight. Recommendation: get there around eight to catch their set.

Spoon tore into things with the new tune "Who Backs Yr Money", which worked really well to start things off. They then proceeded to deliver a set that dropped back to their first album with a blazing take on "Nefarious", and came all the way through the present. We were psyched to hear a bunch of stuff off of Girls Can Tell, including "Everything Hits At Once" and "Fitted Shirt". (We're still really hoping to hear "Anything You Want"....fingers crossed.)

One really nice aspect of these shows is that some of the more minimalist tunes are really getting fleshed out with nice arrangements in the live setting. Both "The Ghost Of You Lingers" and "Small Stakes" sounded much more full and lush than we've ever heard them in a live setting, and the arrangements seem to have matured across the board. A lot of the synth and electronic sounds have become thicker, and closer to their album counterparts, with both Eric Harvey and Rob Pope now taking up keyboard duties at various points in the set.

In comparison to the first night, there were far fewer horns, and the covers were absent as well. The show was far more focused on the band's own four piece sound. As such, they managed to craft a set that was at once eclectic and accessible. Waves of sound often permeated the songs, but they never lost track of their melody and beat. It was truly everything that is good about Spoon: experimentalism well drenched in great songwriting.

As we go into the third night, we can't help but be thinking that it's going to be the best of the three. The band seems to be building momentum as they go along, and Britt Daniel announced last night that they had purposely circumvented the festival circuit in favor of playing a run at the Fillmore. Frankly, we couldn't be happier. These shows are shaping up to be some of the best Spoon we've seen and heard in years.

Setlist, courtesy of Boogie...

Who Backs Yr Money
Eddie's Ragga
My Mathematical Mind
Stay Don't Go
The Underdog
Small Stakes
The Ghost of You Lingers
Trouble (totally can't remember the exact name of this)
Don't You Evah
Fitted Shirt
Everything Hits at Once
Written in Reverse
Nefarious
Don't Make Me a Target
I Summon You
Rhythm + Soul
You Got Yr Cherry Bomb
I Turn My Camera On
--
My Japanese Cigarette Case
Black Like Me
The Two Sides of M. Valentine
Jonathan Fisk

Many more pics at the HAD Archive

6 comments:

sierra said...

do you happen to know who Graham is? i was quite pleased that he chose "fitted shirt" :)

i was at monday & tuesday shows, but can't make it tonight - i look forward to your review!

hippiesaredead said...

Not sure...for those not at the show: an old friend named "Graham" guested on guitar and backup vocals for "Fitted Shirt". I may be crazy, but I think he did the same thing (minus the guitar) at Britt's solo show at Hotel Utah back in Spring of '04.

Anonymous said...

Graham is also in Rogue Wave!

Unknown said...

I had tickets to the Tuesday show and had to miss it for work. It was really nice to see pictures from the show and read your thoughtful review. I listened to the NPR show recorded at the 9:30 club earlier this year as consolation. Keep up the great commentary!

Evan Hill said...

Man - thanks for the blog. My girlfriend and I are in love with Spoon and were hoping somebody posted the set list. Glad we chose the second night. Scorching. Wonder if these new songs will get on an album soon.

Evan Hill said...

I don't think they played Stay Don't Go though.