“I spent more time in Providence than Austin so far this year.” Britt Daniel, Jim Eno and the rest of the Spoon crew have been holed up in Rhode Island’s capital city and tipped their hand via a late February Instagram post that they were busy making a new record at Public Hi-Fi Eno’s recording studio that was recently transplanted from Austin to Providence.
Their time in the city (enough time for Daniel to give a shout-out to their erstwhile local) made it a no-brainer to book a tour kick off show before they play some sporadic dates over the summer and autumn months, and the cozy confines of the 785 capacity Fête Music Hall made for a great choice.
Only a couple of new songs were teased out tonight and if you are curious to hear what “Lose Control” and “Love Right To Your Door” sound like, they are available for perusing. Yep, they sound like Spoon songs!
With their eleventh record on the way, it’s difficult to play all the songs people want to hear, especially when you’re a consistently dependable band like Spoon is; what records get short shrift and what under-played gems might be put on display for tonight? Without going the ‘evening with’ route, I’d say the band hit a pretty nice sweet spot. Eight records got representation and Daniel and company huddled to give us some songs that have barely been through a PA speaker in years. “Take A Walk” proved that right out of the gate, the first time it’s been played since 2012.
They reached back even farther for “Out Go The Lights” (Daniel mentioning that it’s only been played once, in 2010) and “Finer Feelings,” rewarding the diehards in the crowd. The band’s brand of slashing guitars and the steadily minimal and extremely effective drumming of Eno is their biggest strength (outside of Daniel’s talent at writing songs of course) and were served up in textbook examples like “The Hardest Cut,” “Rent I Pay,” “I Summon You” and particularly on “TheWay We Get By.” Alex Fischel’s piano lines bringing the song to life while Eno patiently waits for the right moment to bring the drums in and give it that extra boost of energy, making the song explode into action. It’s that sort of songwriting and arrangement that gives Spoon’s finest songs the extra edge.
And speaking of that extra edge, I think the arrival of Fischel has been critical to Spoon’s live shows, bringing keyboards and a biting guitar tone to really propel the songs. Will Sergeant would have been proud to hear Fischel’s slashing, brittle tone during encore closer “Got Nuffin.” That’s the way to send us off into that good night (and head next door for a late night hotdog).
Ravi Shavi was hand-picked to open the show, and it’s nice to see local talent get exposure on a bill like this, something that doesn’t seem like it happens much any longer. Unabashedly writing from his perspective as a Pakistani-American, it wasn’t surprising that his brand of punchy, danceable rock was steeped in vignettes of subtle or overt racism as in “New Brown Neighbors”.
Switching from guitar to bass, he and the band cruised through their short slot and made the most of it. At the close he extended an invite to meet him and the band at the merch table if you liked any of the songs. “We got t-shirts and records, and everything- capitalism on full display!” when an audience member pronounced it as just commerce, which is a minor but crucial distinction for a small band trying to keep their head above water in these times.
