Hey! I like Spoon!
So we are here in the Bayou City, where I came of age and left as soon as I came to my senses. Houston. My planned jaunt here to attend the humongous quilt show this weekend became a family outing, when my spouse suggested we go to the New Pornographers and Spoon show at a venue here called Warehouse Live. We probably would not have seen the NPs any other way, as they are playing Fun Fun Fun in Austin and we're not going to that.
Warehouse turned out to be a decent venue. It's big and it's clean — they seemed to specialize in sweeping away punk rock grunge. There are actually people going around the club all night sweeping up trash, like it was Disney World!
Okay, so the NPs are, like, our favorite band. That is, both of us can agree on how much we love them. In fact, they are the only band we ever go out of town just to see. So we could not figure out what we were missing from their set. They were louder onstage than the PA, so there was that "cottony" quality to the sound. We wanted more lighting design. We wanted Neko Case to engage the audience more. Her voice is lovely, now she needs more onstage "hotcha." Dunno.
Nothing could have prepared me, though, for the surprise of seeing Dan Bejar performing with the band again. Dan fans know he mostly does not tour with the NPs. In 2005, he went out with them to support Twin Cinema for part of the tour and his nerves really showed onstage. I am one of those people who just love him, and love him too much, probably. People like me were about to piss themselves in anticipation of watching him do "Ballad of the Comeback Kid" or "Jackie, Dressed In Cobras" live with the band, but he was clearly miserable and pretty much not caring to cater to his rabid fans. He held a beer in one hand and the mic in the other onstage. Dan was hating life on that tour. I'm not projecting, this is easy to back up.
I got to catch up with him a bit last night, and he is a much happier guy this time around. For one thing, he said, if he sits at home while his friends from home go out and tour, he doesn't get paid. With the pressure off of having to do a Destroyer set before the NPs, Dan is a lot more cheerful and relaxed, offstage and on. He gave me the heads-up: Spoon was going to cover "It's Gonna Take An Airplane" and bring him onstage to do it during Spoon's encore. Dan called it "an old Destroyer song." It's from, like, 2004, on Your Blues. I guess in rock-n-roll years that's old, and it's old to Dan, I suppose.
Okay, so, Spoon. I am pretty sure I have never seen them before, in spite of the fact they were a local fixture for many years. I was pretty sure I didn't think much of their music. "I Turn My Camera On" has been a distraction on You Tube for our kid, but c'mon. Where are the guts? I thought.
Spoon is clearly a great band, and don't lack visceral content. I like them! The level of professionalism and, frankly, star quality they displayed is phenomenal. Even when they walked past Dan and me backstage to get set for their show, it was like, Yes, we are rock stars and we are in character. They (and their sound engineer) easily overcame the club's limitations in terms of sound, and their LD should get an award. Most of all, they know how to give the audience what the audience came for — a rock show with a lead guy who knows how to be a rock star and has really great songs. They mentioned that this was the biggest crowd they'd ever had in Houston (they did not mention that Houston has no venues to speak of, that makes it really hard for a band to get any kind of following).
It was obvious that much of the Houston audience for Spoon didn't really quite get it, what a big deal it was for Britt Daniel to sing, "It's gonna take an airplane/To get me off the ground/I don't blame anyone who isn't sticking around" and have Dan "El Oso" Bejar onstage with him singing the second part. Britt asked for someone to put the performance up on You Tube so he could watch it the next day, but so far I find nothing on that.
Spoon — a great, hard-working band who also admire the songs of Daniel Bejar. How can you go wrong with that? Hey, I like Spoon (not that they need me to).
Warehouse turned out to be a decent venue. It's big and it's clean — they seemed to specialize in sweeping away punk rock grunge. There are actually people going around the club all night sweeping up trash, like it was Disney World!
Okay, so the NPs are, like, our favorite band. That is, both of us can agree on how much we love them. In fact, they are the only band we ever go out of town just to see. So we could not figure out what we were missing from their set. They were louder onstage than the PA, so there was that "cottony" quality to the sound. We wanted more lighting design. We wanted Neko Case to engage the audience more. Her voice is lovely, now she needs more onstage "hotcha." Dunno.
Nothing could have prepared me, though, for the surprise of seeing Dan Bejar performing with the band again. Dan fans know he mostly does not tour with the NPs. In 2005, he went out with them to support Twin Cinema for part of the tour and his nerves really showed onstage. I am one of those people who just love him, and love him too much, probably. People like me were about to piss themselves in anticipation of watching him do "Ballad of the Comeback Kid" or "Jackie, Dressed In Cobras" live with the band, but he was clearly miserable and pretty much not caring to cater to his rabid fans. He held a beer in one hand and the mic in the other onstage. Dan was hating life on that tour. I'm not projecting, this is easy to back up.
I got to catch up with him a bit last night, and he is a much happier guy this time around. For one thing, he said, if he sits at home while his friends from home go out and tour, he doesn't get paid. With the pressure off of having to do a Destroyer set before the NPs, Dan is a lot more cheerful and relaxed, offstage and on. He gave me the heads-up: Spoon was going to cover "It's Gonna Take An Airplane" and bring him onstage to do it during Spoon's encore. Dan called it "an old Destroyer song." It's from, like, 2004, on Your Blues. I guess in rock-n-roll years that's old, and it's old to Dan, I suppose.
Okay, so, Spoon. I am pretty sure I have never seen them before, in spite of the fact they were a local fixture for many years. I was pretty sure I didn't think much of their music. "I Turn My Camera On" has been a distraction on You Tube for our kid, but c'mon. Where are the guts? I thought.
Spoon is clearly a great band, and don't lack visceral content. I like them! The level of professionalism and, frankly, star quality they displayed is phenomenal. Even when they walked past Dan and me backstage to get set for their show, it was like, Yes, we are rock stars and we are in character. They (and their sound engineer) easily overcame the club's limitations in terms of sound, and their LD should get an award. Most of all, they know how to give the audience what the audience came for — a rock show with a lead guy who knows how to be a rock star and has really great songs. They mentioned that this was the biggest crowd they'd ever had in Houston (they did not mention that Houston has no venues to speak of, that makes it really hard for a band to get any kind of following).
It was obvious that much of the Houston audience for Spoon didn't really quite get it, what a big deal it was for Britt Daniel to sing, "It's gonna take an airplane/To get me off the ground/I don't blame anyone who isn't sticking around" and have Dan "El Oso" Bejar onstage with him singing the second part. Britt asked for someone to put the performance up on You Tube so he could watch it the next day, but so far I find nothing on that.
Spoon — a great, hard-working band who also admire the songs of Daniel Bejar. How can you go wrong with that? Hey, I like Spoon (not that they need me to).
posted by Roseana Auten @ 8:27 PM
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