I had wanted to catch Owen Pallet and then had the big idea of reviewing Arcade Fire before I actuall saw them and got to MSG just in time to catch Spoon.
Last time I saw Spoon was earlier this year at Radio City Music Hall, the third of a three night run of concerts for me and not the best of ideas for a man who feels as if he has two full time jobs. I hated em and got plenty of hate mail in return. One woman wrote “that was a terrible review” and she was right.
So Spoon hit the stage at 845p and by 852p when they roared into “The Underdog”, a highlight from their breathrough album Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga it is obvious I had gotten them wrong. Lead Spoonfeeder Brett Daniels has a great rasping undertone to his voice and a contingent of very fine alt rock songs and the band are loud and hard.
Having said that and despite my sincere admiration there is something awfully opening act about them. They lack the swagger of a great rock band.
The songs are quirky and still strong enough, often based around rhythm so strong my chair was shaking. Still quirk is quirk and if you don’t know the material it aint gonna kick.
On one song Brett kneels on the ground for an extended guitar and it is pleasant enough though it isn’t Total Slacker . The restraint is papable as the intensity.
On the other hand, a great and rocker “Target” is real hard to complain about as the band jams very solid, especially the keyboard player.
The next song is a fine “Nothing To Lose” a riifalicious hard rork stomper and there is no denying this passionate, very very good , journeyman hard rock out.