March 31, 2010
Spoon: Part 2
It was invigorating searching for the Royal Oak Music Theater. My Mapquest directions, scratched on a little notecard in a sloppy hand, failed me miserably. Econ combined his limited knowledge of the area with Vanessa's GPS, in response to which I got to use one of my favorite Bogart quotes where it fit in a natural conversation. "You're a good man, sister." To which she responded, "Yeah, I know." She was little impressed with my Mapquest directions.But we made it.
Deerhunter flopped miserably. Sound difficulties and apparently an improperly tuned guitar, or something of the sort, led to awkward silly remarks from the front man, which in turn roused comments of "Leave!" and "Spoon! Spoon!" from the crowd. It was embarrassing. Towards the end, the front man for Deerhunter asked "Are you ready for Spoon?" to which the crowd responded in the affirmative, then he quipped, "You'll have to be louder than that, we can't stop playing unless we can hear you! So, are you ready ...for SPOON?!?!" And the crowd was forced to repeat itself.
Now, to reiterate some of our previous comments, Vanessa and I are not "Spoon fans." There's no reason for it, other than neglect and other bands commanding our attention. But the instant the first song began, the first two words that came into my head were "tight" and "professional." This was partly due to the contrast of the opening band, but the impression held throughout the show.
Vanessa and I both enjoyed the length of the set. I was dancing to songs that I didn't know the words to, and whose progressions I could not anticipate. It felt like discovering new material from an old favorite band; the "this is a new song" rush. However, I was also very embarrassed to be among the goombas who lit up when "You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb" began. I realize a band is more than its big hit, and hate to be one of "them." On the other hand, I was pleased to be singing along to their cover of "Modern World" by Wolf Parade, while all the committed Spoon fans swayed awkwardly out of time.
We have little to say about the details of the concert, except that we are now Spoon fans.
Random observations:
Vanessa: liked Britt Daniel's little leather jacket.
Kyle: noticed he kept running his hand through his hair, presumably to give it a "wild, haphazard" look for photographs.
V: enjoyed watching Daniel, as she could only see him through the crowd, and noticed he is very unaffected and cool. One might say "unaffected" is a definition of "cool." And that, Britt Daniel is.
K: kept a sharp eye on the drunk frat monkey behind V, particularly his hand which strayed dangerously near to the back of V's skirt as he swayed.
K & V: were annoyed by the intense white lights that flashed into the crowd during key moments of certain songs, but loved the light show in general. Excellent color schemes. Especially the slate purple combined with slightly yellow-tinted, horizontal spotlights on the band.
On the ride home, Vanessa fell asleep and Econ and I pondered the abruptness of a certain exit off the highway into downtown Ann Arbor, which nearly impaled my little Honda on a concrete divider.
by K. Janke at 4:18 PM |
5 Comments:
I think I alone liked those bright light flashes. Not sure why I did.
Jealous that they pulled out "Modern World" at your show.
Did Britt do some solo acoustic stuff?
You were not alone. I liked them, too.
Also jealous about "Modern World."
Nice write-up.
Bummer about Deerhunter. I think Bradford Cox (the lame front man of whom you speak) is pretty much a genius (he also does 'Atlas Sound' as a side-project). He hob-nobs with Noah Lennox and Wayne Coyne, so I can't believe he's such a crappy showman. In his defense, he does have Marfan syndrome which, I don't know, might effect his onstage energy or something.
I suspect Cox was drunk or high, and after one poorly-executed bit of banter, it was like a snowball effect kicked in, such that nothing he said would come out right. Deerhunter is good, though, and I was disappointed that their show didn't turn out better.
As a refresher, I skipped around Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga and Gimme Fiction while working my way to downtown Ann Arbor before the show, but Kill the Moonlight is still the only album I know all the words to and is still the one I get the most excited about, even after the band's growth since that album's release.
"Modern World" was a pleasant surprise, and I am now inclined to check out Transference.
I saw Britt's accoustic guitar once, as far as I remember. My memory isn't clear on that. But I do know it was never featured.
And yeah, snowball effect. I understand that. But I'm still gonna judge the guy, because that's what you do with public performances. Same as I judge Britt Daniel, with whose presence I stage I am still blown away by.
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