Built To Spill kicked off their 2026 summer tour which will see them out on the road until the beginning of September, and they did it in style in the bucolic setting of Burlington, Vermont. This would mark their seventh time playing Higher Ground, which seems a bit insane for a band based out of Idaho but when you factor in Foam Brewers, it all makes sense. This Burlington-based craft beer maker started making their Built To Spill double IPA almost exactly ten years ago, and of course a special bond was made between the brewery and the band; what better way to start their tour than with friends from across the country?
Some bands like playing the same (or very close to the same) set list every night, but since this is the fourth time seeing them since February (three times were on the Ice Cream Floats cruise that Modest Mouse organized), thankfully they are not one of them. Out of the 55 songs they played over those sets, there were 14 songs only played once, and in Burlington we got to hear “The Wait” and “Temporarily Blind” as songs not played on the boat. Doug’s rhythm section of Melanie Radford and Teresa Esguerra must go through some strenuous practice sessions in order to learn the prodigious back catalog that Martsch has created.
It’s hard to think back to the days when Martsch had two other guitar players in the lineup, as he can certainly handle all the six string lifting on his own with prime examples on “The Plan,” the constantly churning “When I’m Blind” and “Trimmed And Burning.” And speaking guitar heroics, it would be nice if Doug resurrected his killer version of Neil Young’s “Cortez The Killer,” not played live since 2003. Strong cover choices did come in the form of Heartless Bastards “The Mountain” and “Virginia Reel Around The Fountain” though since Martsch was in The Halo Benders along with Calvin Johnson I guess it’s not really a cover.
Back to the rhythm section, Radford and Esguerra have such visible joy beaming it’s hard not to join them with a permagrin on your own face. The band’s been playing an unreleased song called “Fire To Dust” and hopefully this means that new material is in the works so the two can have their work featured in the studio too; they have yet to cut a record with Martsch. Fingers crossed it’s soon!
Burlington native Lily Seabird had opening honors and she and her three bandmates got right down to business. She remarked that she just came from the other room in the club where The Casualties were playing and that getting a beer dumped over her head was the perfect thing to get her in the right mindset. She wasn’t angry, but had her adrenaline levels up pretty high; I’ve never seen anyone get that fat Neil Young tone out of a Telecaster before. The immediate comparisons that came to mind were Wednesday and Florry, whipping up a big storm of alt.country badassness, though I prefer Seabird’s vocals to the other two. I can’t recall the last time I saw a band I knew nothing about and bought all their records they had for sale, probably Orsak:Oslo two years ago in London. Keep an eye out for this bird!
