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11 Comments

news

Nonfiction

By David Topping

spoon_pic3.jpg
Spoon have made only one big misstep in their ten-plus years of recording albums: Gimme Fiction. The 2005 album, a follow-up to 2002′s absolutely brilliant Kill the Moonlight, marked a step backward for the band’s music and a step forward for its accessibility––an album of decent, friendly, straightforward, catchy, and ultimately forgettable rock songs, an album able to retain the band’s old fans while hooking tons of new ones. Gimme Fiction––save for (pictured) lead singer Britt Daniel’s fantastic voice––sounded like some band aping Spoon, and not doing all that great of a job at it.
This year’s Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga was, appropriately enough, Spoon’s rebirth. Pairing the kind of studio experimentation missing on the band’s previous album with amazing songwriting, Spoon reversed a potential slump by means of a refreshing return to form.
When the band toured in support of Gimme Fiction two years ago, they played a Toronto set that drew largely from their then-new album, with plenty of older material for good measure. It was pretty fun; Gimme Fiction‘s songs were still new enough to be exciting, and a 19+ show at the Phoenix was just the right venue for the band. Last night at the Kool Haus, Spoon triumphantly returned to an ecstatic Toronto audience after a two-year absence…and played a set that drew largely from Gimme Fiction. In fact, for the first hour of the set, they played absolutely nothing from their new album, choosing to churn through a chuck of hit-or-miss older songs instead, a good half of them (the misses) from Gimme Fiction. Consistent technical difficulties, messy timing, and overall audience dickishness throughout the set (this was, after all, an all-ages Kool Haus show) only made things worse, and by the time that Spoon got to songs from their new album, they decided, for some reason, to play them all in the order that they appeared on Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga. Great versions of “The Ghost of You Lingers” and “The Underdog” aside, it was pretty hard to get excited when the whole thing just felt so predictable, so stale, so okay. Here was an amazing band with a brilliant back catalogue––nary a dud among their hundred-odd recorded tracks––pretty much phoning it in.
There’s always 2009, though, right?
Photo by David Topping.

Comments

  • The Explosively Talented Christopher Bird

    Spoon have made only one big misstep in their ten-plus years of recording albums: Gimme Fiction. The 2005 album, a follow-up to 2002′s absolutely brilliant Kill the Moonlight, marked a step backwards for the band’s music and a step forward for its accessibility––an album of decent, friendly, straightforward, catchy, and ultimately forgettable rock songs, an album able to retain the band’s old fans while hooking tons of new ones.
    Yes, that was a terrible misstep, what with all the money it made them. Topping, you total Pitchfork wannabe!

  • x_the_x

    A fairer observation is that the entire set was played chronologically (except for the encores, of which there were two (yet you somehow suggest the band was phoning it in?)), and they worked through each album chronologically. You might disagree with this choice, but I don’t think the rest of the crowd was with you – the energy in the crowd (at least where I was standing) was incredible.
    It was easily the best of the six + spoon shows I have seen. The band obviously thought so too, what with the two encores and the singer’s somewhat backhanded “this is a great crowd … for Toronto” compliment.
    Most of the set was not off the (excellent and not at all a misstep) Gimmie Fiction – aside from encores, they played three songs off this album and 4 off of GGGGG. They played as many off Girls Can Tell as they did off Gimmie Fiction.
    Needless to say, I disagree with almost everything you wrote. Hard to believe we were at the same show. Can we chalk it up to differing opinions about the worth of the back catalogue (if you came only to hear the new album, I could see how you might be a little taken aback)?

  • Sebastian_Dangerfield

    Did your girlfriend dump you to Gimme Fiction or something?

  • roseparade

    also in disagreement; i thought it was a great show. and the 2005 gig was at the opera house.

  • roseparade

    scratch that. i see now that there were two shows in 2005. my mistake.

  • Johnnie Walker

    I thought the show was really fun, and so did everyone I was with. And I do agree that the million encores kind of makes “phoning it in” an unfair criticism.
    Plus, I know The Phoenix is a more intimate venue than Kool Haus, but Spoon is a pretty big band. In fact, didn’t they change venues this time from The Phoenix to Kool Haus because the tickets were selling so fast? I certainly don’t begrudge them their success. I don’t see the relevance of whether the show was 19+ or not.

  • Sammy

    Kind of some strange criticisms. Doesn’t really seem like a misstep if they attracted lots of new fans while retaining the old ones. Also, you panned Gimme Fiction and then said there’s “nary a dud” among their recorded tracks.

  • David Topping

    If memory serves, x_the_x, they played six songs from Fiction and six from Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga––and, you’re right, I think six from Girls Can Tell. It just felt like the band was leaning way too heavily on their weakest material. We definitely disagree about Fiction‘s merits, which is fine; this review, though, is an attempt to articulate the reasons for my disappointment. It felt like I was at the same show I was at in 2005, but not as good; the set list back then, actually, featured just just as many tracks off of Gimme Fiction as last night’s show did. And Sammy, Gimme Fiction, with a few exceptions, is one big dud, especially compared to the band’s other albums.
    Spoon is my favourite band and has been since I was in grade 9 (and I’ve yet to be dumped over them!). It’s not that I thought it was a horrible show I just felt like it was a big let-down. I’m certainly not speaking for the audience’s enjoyment, nor did I ever claim to be––popularity and quality are not synonyms.
    Basically, Spoon is better than the paint-by-numbers show they played last night, and better than the paint-by-numbers album that Gimme Fiction was.

  • jeeff

    since my ‘guest’ comment got censored i guess i’d better log in. boo to this review. everyone i know had a great time at the show, maybe because we don’t harbour a grudge against ‘gimme fiction’ and/or we weren’t looking for an easy story angle. the concert reviews on this blog really make me shake my head, particularly the double standard between local up-and-comers (fawning adoration) and more established acts (see above).

  • rsf

    What the hell is your problem? Where you even there?
    Upset you did not get comped Springsteen tickets last night?
    Man, that show was great. Loved every single minute.
    Criticizing Spoon for Gimme Fiction is like criticizing Led Zeppelin for Stairway to Heaven.
    I am sure the band is real upset that they have a popular cd. With the audiences being bigger, the tour bus is nicer, they live in better homes, sleep with hotter chicks, don’t have to slug their own gear … it must be a living hell for a working musician.
    I am guessing that you are mad because Spoon is no longer your own little band that plays to you and 300 of your pretentious fans. You have to share them with a few thousand people. Poor guy, boo friggin hoo.
    …. I regret nothing.

  • David Topping

    Dude, jeeff, I provide nothing but fawning adoration. Here are some of the overwhelmingly positive reviews I’ve written of non-local bands, jeeff: Vampire Weekend and Yacht, Oh No! Oh My!, Okkervil River, The National, The Long Winters, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, Guster, The Mountain Goats, The Futureheads, and Wilco. Also, I only go to shows of bands I like, so the odds are already stacked pretty high in their favour, and I’m not looking for any “angle.”
    And rsf, chill. Just because I don’t like something as much as you do––namely, Gimme Fiction, doesn’t mean that I’m wrong. As for Spoon’s success––good for them! Anyone who listens to music should know that musical success and good music are quite often not correlated at all. Spoon deserves to do well, of course, but that success doesn’t suddenly make everything they do good. Oh, and I like Spoon a thousand times better than I do Springsteen (and Zeppelin) anyway.