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Story and photos by Tony Bonyata Upping the ante only two nights after their rather surprisingly lackluster appearance on NBC's Saturday Night Live (which they cancelled three shows in order to attend) the Austin-based indie rock band Spoon delivered a taught, high energy performance at The Pabst Theater last Monday in support of their popular sixth full-length album, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga.There may have been four of them onstage, but the show definitely centered primarily on singer/songwriter/guitarist Britt Daniel, who, with slightly disheveled short blond hair, grabbed most of the spotlight with not only his strong vocals and often jarring, scrappy guitar, but also with the oddly engaging, herky-jerky twitching of his body - which spasmed both in and out time. But while the audience's attention may have been drawn front and center, that's certainly not to say that his band mates were laying down on the job. On the contrary, drummer Jim Emo and bassist Rob Pope delivered stout rhythms, while keyboardist Eric Harvey provided much of the texture and color to the band's many numbers. The quartet ran through fantastic versions of "You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb," "Don't Make Me A Target," "My Little Japanese Cigarette Case" and a positively upbeat take on "The Underdog," all from Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga. They also offered up a healthy dose of songs from, arguably their strongest effort, 2005's Gimme Fiction. Songs such as "The Beast And Dragon, "Adored," "The Two Sides of Monsieur Valentine," the angular "My Mathematical Mind" and the delicious disco-rave-up of "I Turn My Camera On," where Daniel's falsetto delivery dripped with a tongue-in-cheek sensuality, were more than welcome and many older Spoon fans in attendance also appreciated the addition of the older number " Vittorio E" along with a few other gems from their back catalogue. While their performance seemed to please all in the packed theater, collectively the band lacked an engaging stage presence and any real visual spark. Save for the stockpile of fantastic tunes in their setlist and Daniel's aforementioned nervous flailing, this was just four rather-normal looking guys that appeared to be just going through the motions. Thankfully, however, they didn't sound like it. Opening act The Ponys turned in a raucous set of rockers that focused heavily on their most recent Matador release, Turn Out The Lights. Perhaps they were influenced by the Smashing Pumpkins' early incendiary live shows, or maybe there's just something in the Chicago water (as both bands hail from The Windy City), but when this talented foursome locked-in together they were absolutely on fire - with bassist Melissa Elias and drummer Nathan Jerde hammering out crushing rhythms, while frontman Jered Gummere's guitar howled and snorted with unbridled fuzz and distortion. Despite a sub-par muddy mix, The Ponys' marriage of late '70s post punk and early '90s grunge showed an immense amount of promise for this young band. |
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