Spoon, Amsterdam Paradiso

Spoon

February 18, 2010

If you would look at a photo taken at this gig you might be led to believe that Spoon is a band of middle-aged indie-rockers standing on a stage and simply playing their own instruments to no theatrics at all. I mean, there they are, these men around the forty from Texas, standing there without much ado. They are dressed reasonably sharp, I’ll give them that. No Interpol antics though. However, the venue is almost at full capacity, and it would be absurd if all these people paid 20 euros to see some guys simply play their own instruments, right? Right? Luckily Spoon isn’t just any old indie-rock band. In Amsterdam they give three convincing reasons as to why they are at the head of their class: their oeuvre, their ability to play, and the “secret” theatrics and literary elements to their music.

So, the oeuvre, practically endless that is. Not only does the band have a plethora of albums and songs, a good many of them are actually really good as well. Spoon does a good job of dividing the setlist over a couple of albums rather than simply playing a bunch from their two most recent ones. This allows them to mix and match about forty worthy songs, no mean feat. They can even leave off trump cards like ‘Jonathan Fisk’ off of the Kill the Moonlight album, with which they ended their London gig if I’m informed correctly. Such omissions in the Amsterdam setlist exemplify the luxury problem Britt Daniel and co have. Of course, everyone in the venue has his or her personal preferences, but probably every song on the setlist is someone’s favourite.

It is not just the quality of the songs though, it is the quality of the playing as well. Aside from gig closer ‘The Underdog’ every song is played superbly. The astonishing thing is that a different instrument will hog the spotlight per song. Sometimes it will be a nifty bit of piano, but it might as well be some ridiculous catchy bass play, Jim Eno‘s drums, or Britt’s guitar sharply cutting through. At one point the bass produces an almost disco like sequence which would not have been out of place in a club for people to dance to. Admittedly, the jam catches most people off guard so there is little actual dancing, but no one in Amsterdam can say they did not provide the opportunity to do so. Britt Daniel’s voice is in good form as well. High, low, soft, hard, or squealing: Daniel has no problem hitting the notes and delivering the lines in exactly the right way. The control he has over his voice is downright impressive.

Admittedly, there are more bands out there who can play a tight live show and who can piece together a strong setlist (however they might not have the same amount of choice as Spoon), but for some reason it is Spoon which is seen as perhaps the best band in their field (well, in America at least). Their live show showcases some of the extra qualities which makes them just that bit more special. Their last album Transference, for example, might be considered as exemplifying the inability to communicate or convey ones feelings. A bit of literary analysis this is probably, but during these new songs you see Daniel stop singing mid-sentence, you see the band cut off their own songs, and during the wicked ‘Nobody Gets Me But You’ the instrumentation seems to increasingly overlap the words uttered, which at one point seem to be delivered pathetically while the drums and guitar roar through it. The bass happens to be quite catchy though, so lovers of irony will perhaps note that you are effectively dancing on someone’s inability to convey his or her emotions. The songs starts with the line “Nobody gets what I say/ there must be some way to convey”, but speech is rendered ineffectual as if it were a Ionesco play.

Then there are the additional sound effects coming from the extra pedals and equipment the band has on stage. Especially the echoes add just that extra bit of punch to make you feel it, and sometimes the effects literally shake the foundations of the former church turned venue. It are these little touches which really add to the feel of the songs. Perhaps this is best illustrated by the track ‘The Ghost of You Lingers’ from the Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga album. Daniel turns in quite the performance, anxiously churning out lines as “If you were here, would you calm me down?”. The sound effects literally seem to fly past you as they are flung into the crowd. The song uses mostly keyboard, but at the end Jim Eno’s drums come in, and those drums are turned up a tad for this song to make their entrée really dramatic. Such additions just help build a song.

So, yes, ‘The Underdog’ as last, and it so happens that Britt Daniel ends with a track he forgets the lyrics to. He laughs it off, and the crowd probably does as well, because after such an inspired set everyone is allowed a little mistake. Daniel has been a gentleman throughout the set. The band will never win the award for best stage banter, but Daniel’s movements are elegant, and when he addresses the crowd and thanks them profusely he seems quite sincere and grateful. So yeah, on a photo it might seem like a bunch of dads (they easily could be someone’s father if they aren’t already, family information usually is lost on me) getting up there playing their instruments while not resorting to any visible of Montrealesque techniques. However, Spoon proves that all those little extras they do fuse into a very good live show indeed. So a simple picture of a Spoon show might not tell the whole story, and superficiality is shown to be deceptive once again, and in the Arts that is a definite plus.

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