July 24, 2007
Snapshots: Spoon @ The Mohawk
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Photos by Eric Uhlir, Aasim Syed and Keith Gaddis.
The Mohawk's summer of "secret" musical showcases continued on Friday night with a special performance by local heroes, Spoon. Fresh off the release of their critically lauded new album, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, the band took to the outdoor stage, tented against the threat of rain, ready to rock the capacity crowd.
As the band launched into "The Two Sides of Monsieur Valentine" all was right, though. It quickly became apparent that sometime between sound check and taking the stage bassist Rob Pope's amp went on the fritz. Playing a hurried and distracted "Don't Make Me a Target", Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga's insistent anti-war tune, the band then took a break to switch out amps with one from opener Black Joe Lewis (who played a stellar, high energy set of retro cool blues and soul). Once the technical difficulties had been addressed the band tore back into their set with the new album's first single "The Underdog".
Oddly enough, the band played the tune sans horns, despite having the excellent horn section from Black Joe Lewis still in the house. Such an oversight (though who knows what kind of notice they would have had to learn the song) is the kind of thing that prevents good shows from becoming great ones, but sometimes you have to let things slide, especially in the face of what was an overwhelmingly tight set. Classics like "Rhythm and Soul" and "Chicago at Night" benefited from the band's greater depth of experience and the tighter musicianship that comes from years of touring.
New songs like "Cherry Bomb" shared the same expert treatment as the classics, lending them an immediate familiarity (even though the audience, many of whom were long-time local supporters had probably already been given the album from one source or another). The rain even seemed to sense the importance of the evening to the die-hards in attendance, holding off another of the summer's persistent deluge, releasing only a few drops here and there as a reminder of its beneficence. Closing the humid night's set with "Black Like Me", Britt Daniel and his band of roguish merrymakers Spoon had successfully taken care of their oldest fans for another humid Texas night.
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Eric, thanks for always documenting the best stuff that happens in Austin. The pics are great.
"Closing the humid night's set with "Black Like Me", Britt Daniel and his band of roguish merrymakers Spoon had successfully taken care of their oldest fans for another humid Texas night."
There's a lot of clumsy comma usage and that last sentence well... was it humid or what!? :)
Is it me or is picture #1 not from the mohawk show? Either way they are all great photos! Thanks!
#1 is not from the Mohawk show - unless Britt played a special song in which he changed clothes. Good catch - must be the OPs favorite of all time.
The first photo is from the sound check
Nice, thanks for the info. Can't wait to see Spoon again either at La Zona Rosa (pre ACL show) or at ACL. I feel like I'm on Spoon overload. First Waterloo in-store then Mohawk...
What kind of music do these guys play?
Re: What kind of music do these guys play?
To those unfamiliar, the best way I've found to (ridiculously, but honestly) describe Spoon is like this: Imagine that the Kinks and Wire are having a one-night stand, and the Kinks accidentally impregnate Wire while a Billy Joel LP is spinning in the background.
In short, Spoon is the love-child of the Kinks and Wire with a slight Billy Joel influence.
"Good" music.
americana
#8s description works for all their albums up to Series of Sneaks with the exception of Loveways... maybe. Yeah. Their last two albums have sounded more diverse than the ones that came before them and although I've heard two people compare them to Billy Joel, I don't hear that at all. Someone said they sound like Only the Good Die Young era Joel and still - I am not hearing that whatsoever.
Some of their stuff sounds like Van Morrison and some of it sounds like the Clash or Prince or The Stooges - you can't really pin them down. Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga sounds more like a rock opera than anything to me personally. The last two songs - Finer Feelings and Black Like Me sound like they were stolen straight out of Hedwig and the Angry Inch.
But you should listen to some Spoon and decide for yourself what they sound like instead of taking my word for it.
Nevermind any of that. Spoon sounds like Spoon and you have to listen to them to know what they sound like. Not only do you have to listen to them, you have to listen to each of their albums which are all consistantly great, but change direction with each release.
Overlap does occur. Telephono and Soft Effects and A Series of Sneaks all have a harder edge and are guitar driven. When people say Spoon sounds like the Pixies, this is what they're talking about. They kind of melded into the next direction the band took with Loveways which was much more grandiose. It's a simple album, the themes and lyrics aren't giant, but it sounds huge when you compare it to Telephono or Soft Effects or A Series of Sneaks.
Although Britt Daniel used a piano on maybe a couple of songs on Loveways (Chips and Dip is the only one I can think of off the bat), Spoon didn't start to prominently feature piano playing in their songs until Girls Can Tell. Both Girls Can Tell and Kill the Moonlight have a lot of piano stomping songs. They're both a little moody, not so angry, and both of them seem to be stuck on themes of breakups and payback and getting a handle on what's been lost to me. Kill the Moonlight included the song The Way We Get By which was featured on The OC and resulted in national attention for Spoon. It also resulted in hordes of horny 14 year olds showing up at their concerts and promptly leaving after the song was played.
Gimme Fiction had another big hit - I Turn My Camera On which was another big hit for the band. With this album, the sound again got fuller and more majestic, the piano was still there, and the lyrics seemed less desperate than Girls Can Tell and Kill the Moonlight. Maybe more stable or content. I don't know. I can't think of words to describe them really.
Can't say what I think of the new album, other than basic stuff like - I like it a lot. It's more toned down than Gimme Fiction. It's rougher than Girls Can Tell. It's a hell of a lot more polished than Telephono.
But like I said, don't take my word for it, listen to Spoon yourself and see who they remind you of.
Wait... "Classics like "Rhythm and Soul" and "Chicago at Night" benefited from the band's greater depth of experience and the tighter musicianship that comes from years of touring."
Rthm and Soul off of Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga? Are you sure it wasn't Merchants of Soul? I am confused.