Spoon was one of those concerts that I was going to see, regardless of the fact that I don’t know their music. When I saw on Poll Star that they were coming to New Orleans, I pretty much decided right then and there that I was going. Of course, not being a devoted fan, I didn’t stand in line the day tickets went on sale, and apparently they sold out quickly. I wasn’t really bothered because, as I told my bearded friend Baldwin, “I’m sure I’ll see them eventually.”
Baldwin isn’t as passive as I am however. The afternoon before the show, he texted me, “Spoon tomorrow night? $22.” So I said yes, and I caught a ride to the show on Thursday night with Baldwin, his date Caroline, his younger brother Pike, the noteworthy and broken-footed Jon Guidroz, and Guidroz’s lady Meghan.
We got a pizza at the place next door to Republic, but the service was horrendous so we ended up getting to the concert late. When we walked in, the Strange Boys were playing, which meant that Deerhunter would be next, and Spoon would be later. However, as it turns out, that was Deerhunter, so we missed Strange Boys completely. Baldwin was kind of pissed because apparently he was dying to see them.
Then all the sudden Spoon came on stage. Of course, not knowing them very well, I thought this was Deerhunter for the first song. My friends set me straight though.
To clarify, while I may not know Spoon’s music well, I am accutely aware of it. I’ve read the reviews, I’ve listen to friends rave about them, and I’ve caught their songs in peoples cars occasionally. I also know the style of rock n’ roll they play. Growing up, I was a huge fan of a Midwestern rock band called Koufax . In addition to being regularly compared to Spoon, they share a semi-common member in Rob Pope, who spent an album as the bassist of Koufax when the Get Up Kids broke up in the mid-2000’s. So I’ve always known what style of music Spoon is, and I’ve always known that I’d love them once I heard them. I just hadn’t yet.
When I saw Koufax in 2002 at the Shim Sham Club (now One Eyed Jack’s), Rob Pope was not a member of Koufax. Nonetheless, I still made that connection because I remembered Koufax being a lot more into it in 2002 than Spoon was tonight at Republic. There was literally no energy, and it was killing us.
The lead singer kind of explained it when he mentioned between songs that this was the first show of their tour. “Shouldn’t that mean they’ll be really into it then?”, I asked Pike.
“Yeah, maybe they are kind of slow live,” Pike admitted.
In spite of the lack of energy though, this was a very good live performance. In fact, Spoon was possibly the most flawless live band I’ve ever seen. When I tell you that the crowd heard every noise – every piano note, melody, bass flourish, and lyric – I can’t exaggerate. They were, quite simply, perfect live.
“Do you think this band has a great sound guy?”, my friend Oliver asked me.
“Yeah,” I replied. “That dude deserves a medal.
But ultimately, it was the lack of enthusiasm from the band, the feeling like they were so good at playing these songs that they are now just going through the motions, that made this only a mildly entertaining concert experience for me.
That’s the dichotomy of the rock n’ roll concert. Often the best live bands you’ve ever seen don’t sound all that great live in reality; but it’s their energy and stage show that make them great to see live. Tonight, spoon was on the opposite end of the spectrum. Though they finally started to pick it up towards the end of the set, even coming out with the much coveted (though tonight it seemed obligatory) second encore, I was personally still craving more excitement, an excitement I’d be more likely to get from listening to their albums.
No comments:
Post a Comment