Spoon Played Jazz Fest 2009 - Pictures, Review, Setlist

If you're even a sometimes-reader here at HAD, you probably still know that we're head over heels for Spoon. As such, we were more than a little psyched that the band was headlining on Saturday during our weekend at Jazz Fest. It was great to see the band outside and enjoying themselves, and they unquestionably delivered. A long set (for a festival), some scorching new material, and a killer cover all came together to make for a killer set.

The set (like many of the band's recent shows) focused prominently on Gimme Fiction and Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga. There were only a handful of older tracks, and we have to say that we continually find ourselves wishing the band would pull in a bit more older material. That being said, "Small Stakes" and "Everything Hits At Once" are two of our faves, and it was really nice to hear "Me And The Bean" back in the mix.

As always, the band's current material was delivered in top notch fashion. These guys have become so tight as a touring unit that there performance is all but bulletproof. That being said, this show had a little bit of extra oomph to it's delivery: The band was backed for a good portion of the set by a chunk of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band. Similar to when they brought along a brass section for The Fillmore shows last year, the brass served to strengthen the arrangements across the board.

In addition to the material from their catalog, the band also broke out three new tunes, and their cover of Paul Simon's "Peace Like A River". We've mentioned it before, but we'll say it again: the new material is tightening up to a point where we couldn't be more excited about the new record. If we have to wait til 2010, so be it: everything points to it being completely unbelieveable.

The band wrapped up with an encore of classics, culminating in "Small Stakes", which is no better than in a live setting. It was an awesome way to wrap up a set from one of our favorite bands, while at the same time living it up in the Big Easy.

More pictures over at the HAD Archive

Setlist:
Writing In Reverse
Don’t You Evah
You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb
The Two Sides of Monsieur Valentine
The Ghost of You Lingers
Trouble
The Beast and Dragon, Adored
Me and the Bean
Peace Like a River
Black Like Me
Got ‘Nuffin’
My Mathematical Mind
I Turn my Camera on
Rhythm & Soul
The Underdog
Don’t Make Me a Target
--
I Summon You
Everything Hits at Once
Small Stakes