Spoon Thoughts

April 12, 2008 – 7:58 am

The following contributed by 38 Music Maven Chris Kublan - Eric Holland

“Not Ga Ga For Spoon”

Caught the Spoon show at Terminal 5 Wednesday night. Didn’t blow me
away. Didn’t suck. Now, admittedly, I am a relatively new addition to the
Spoon fam, having been turned on by the new record, “Ga Ga Ga”, and
not just by its daffy title. The album is one of those rarities - one
where each excellent song leads seemingly inexorably to the next excellent
track, despite their being rather disparate in style. The music, while
not derivative, clearly, even consciously, incorporates the influence
of all the major musical styles, and some of the major bands, most
notably, The Velvet Underground (in itself a genre, really), The Clash, and
sometimes, the Beatles (but who doesn’t bite off them?) And this is a
good thing, on record. Live, I kept thinking, even about the songs I
knew, “this sound like so and so” and so on.

The band was at it’s best when it rocked out, which was less often than
I, and apparently the crowd, who displayed a dispiriting lack of body
movement, would have liked. A highlight was definitely the recent
“Don’t Make Me A Target”, which did get at least one fan in on the floor
jumping up and down. The band played tightly throughout, played the rest of
the best off “Ga Ga Ga” and thankfully spoke little, and the clean
stage design was augmented by the use of brilliant mono-chromatic lighting
cues which at least attempted to buoy the emotional intention of the
music. Also, there was a ridiculous bevy of boozed up and bespectacled
young beauties bouncing around the labyrinthine venue and filling both
catwalk levels to the brim. And though the venue was packed, it was easy
to get a drink and get your coat, and the Camel sponsored event was i
guess responsible for the tented and heatlamped, outdoor smoking area -
always a bonus, especially when there’s a
Camel sign every where you turn your head in the venue.

Good music, pretty girls, easy drinks, place to smoke. Not a bad night
come to think of it.