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Spoon, with Crooked Fingers, at the Middle East Underground, Cambridge MA April 8, 2003
Alright, better late then never (plus I need my Radiohead fix from Matt and he’s holding my burned CD hostage pending this review.)
Spoon played a show at the Middle East in Cambridge, MA on Tuesday April 8th. We of course missed the first opening band. Since we had no idea who the hell they were, and still don’t, we decided our time would be better spent at a local dive bar two blocks down, the Cambridge-Port Saloon. Imagine the Beacon Hill Pub, only slightly roomier, brighter, and with two pool tables and you’ve got the idea (i.e. it’s a damn fine establishment with a warm-loving family like atmosphere). I imagine Greg picked this place due to the numerous dartboards and extremely cheap beer. Needless to say, after four games of darts I started to remember why I prefer Beirut instead. I sucked just as bad as Matt sucks at everything, losing three out of four matches. Granted I had Deirdre on my team and she really sucks, sorry D, but Cote clearly brought a ringer in Cos; the man is a machine.
After we had properly liquored up, we headed over to the club to catch the second opening band, Crooked Fingers. They were about a third of the way into their set when we arrived. Now, I had never really listened to Archers of Loaf in college so this was my first experience taking in Eric Bachmann. My first impression: the man sounds exactly like Neil Diamond when he sings. It was quite comical and of course I felt the need to share this revelation with whomever I could. Overall though, they put on a good show and would recommend seeing them, if, of course, they are paired with someone else also worth listening to.
At around 11pm, or at least I think it was 11pm, the boys from Spoon took the stage, and quite simply rocked. For $15 it was about the best concert for the money I have ever seen (other than Joss of course). For those who have never heard Spoon before, its hard to peg their sound. They’ve been compared to some classic punk bands, Pavement/Malkmus, and ever Elvis Costello. They have managed to reinvent their sound on each of the last three albums so trying to squeeze them into a specific category or music type is difficult, other than sticking them with the generic “Indie” tab. As for the show, the boys plowed through almost all of their songs off Series of Sneaks and Kill the Moonlight, as well as a couple from Girls Can Tell, including “Everything Hits at Once”, “Fitted Shirt” and “Lines in the Suit”. From the crowd size (it was the first time Spoon had sold out the Middle East Downstairs) and crowd reaction, it appears most were there to hear the new album. The song that received the greatest response from the crowd was “The Way We Get By” off Kill the Moonlight. I was also informed by a drunken Cote that they played at least two covers, including one during the encore, though I didn’t recognize either (even though I believe a drunken Cote told me and I, pretending to be cool, played it off as if I already knew what he was telling me, when of course I didn’t).
Overall, it was a great evening and fantastic show. If you get a chance, definitely get out to see these boys in a small club before everyone else catches on.
If you didn’t like this interview, suck it! I am just an accountant and so therefore I can not write and am not cool.
- Skinny Prick
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