Friday night Spoon performed its first of two Seattle concerts at the Moore Theatre. Unfortunately things have been a bit hectic over here at Ear Candy HQ which has prevented me from posting a review of what was an excellent 90-minute set. Since the timeliness factor is going against me on this one, I’m going to hit the highlights of the concert. You can file this review under the better late than never category.
The show got off to a bit of a soft start with a spotlight on Britt Daniels as he performed “Before Destruction,” the lead track off Transference. It was one of several songs from the record that made the set list, which was highly appropriate considering the band is touring in support of the album.
About midway through the set Daniels jumped off stage and walked into the first few rows of the crowd (the Moore’s typically empty front contained rows seats for Spoon’s show). I later found out he walked into the crowd to wake up a guy who was sleeping during the show. I also later found out that the same man fell asleep a few songs after Daniels woke him up. The guy has to suffer from narcolepsy because there’s no way any of the other concertgoers on hand were sleeping.
Along with being heavy on Transference material, the set was peppered with songs from the group’s last few records. I was thrilled to hear “Stay Don’t Go” from Kill The Moonlight. Unfortunately the beatboxing heard on record was replaced by drums, but the instrumentation gave depth to what is a simple song on record. The show ended with Kill the Moonlight’s “Jonathan Fisk.”
Aside from the somewhat older material making the set list, Bradford Cox of Deerhunter, one of the opening bands (Micachu and the Shapes was the other), joined the band on stage for “Who Makes Your Money.” He was all smiles, actually he was practically giggling, while singing with Daniels. During “I Summon You” the rather sparsely decorated stage was illuminated with bright white lights and eventually the floodlights hit the audience which led to the song becoming one big clapalong. Another highlight was a cover of The Damned’s “Love Song.”
It was my first time seeing Spoon live and it makes me wonder what took me so long. The sound was fantastic at the Moore and while the group played it rather close to the vest and didn’t stray far from the sound on their recorded output, I got the feeling they could’ve erupted into feedback-driven noise rock or jam-based noodling at any moment. I don’t know whether they will jump from playing theatres to arenas but if Friday’s set is any indication Spoon will definitely be playing bigger rooms (although they may not be arena size) the next time they come to town.
