Fresh from their stint of sets on the Big Day Out tour as well as their ultra-special support slot for Arcade Fire at the Forum, Texan four piece Spoon dropped by the Corner Hotel for a night of pop worthy of any indie fan’s ears. “This is our crowd,” remarked charismatic frontman, Britt Daniels, during their set; seeming rather delighted that his band was finally playing a headline gig in Melbourne. The packed Corner was treated to an hour and half of Spoon’s infectious tunes and charismatic stage antics and there were smiles to be had all round.
Leading the charge of pop tracks for the night were two little indie/pop local acts: Little Red and The Smallgoods. Whilst Little Red performed their set of their 60s spin offs on the smaller stage, The Smallgoods offered a much more diverse arrangement of tracks, from their deceptively slow opener (that honestly had first time hearers worried about boredom) to their select dance-worthy, bright tracks and up and down bizarre closer. With their conclusion – and the not-so-common closure of the Corner curtain – Little Red once again took off in preparation for Spoon and after almost an hour the American quartet finally appeared, dressed sharp and clearly happy to be there.
The strangely climatic ‘My Little Japanese Cigarette Case’ opened with a mixture of sweet vocals, heavy riffs and a whole lot of twitching that seemed to be a trademark of Daniels and set the bar high for the set. If the man wasn’t jerking his arms and guitar sharply, he was either shuffling his feet like Elvis or on the ground rocking out, head down into a guitar led riff. The rest of the band, however, played it cool around Daniels and together the four played as tight as they could get, often to the point where they sounded identical to the produced efforts of their records. Adding to this result was the constant effects thrown into Daniels’ mic which made voice echoes and the like.
Fortunately, the additional four piece horns section that had joined the Texans on stage at Big Day Out arrived for a selection of tracks throughout the set. ‘You’ve Got Yr Cherry Bomb’ and ‘The Underdog’ from the band’s latest effort, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga took major advantage of the two trumpets, sax and trombone and sounded amazing with the full sound of the song, whilst hornless tracks, ‘Stay Don’t Go’ and ‘Don’t Make Me A Target’ gave the band’s rock edge more prevalence, the latter with stunning keyboard work. Whilst for the most part Spoon didn’t drop below their very high standard, the less complex track ‘The Way We Get By’ seemed to lose its anthem quality live and sounded strained in parts. The song’s addition of pointless vocal effects didn’t help its cause either.
Gimme Fiction’s ‘I Summon You’ provided a late highlight in the set and sparked a spontaneous and synchronised clap from the audience at several times throughout, whilst the funk driven ‘I Turn My Camera On’ left no one still; with heads shaking and feet tapping all round. ‘Jonathon Fisk’ ending the set was a great conclusion and again Spoon proved their rock riffs to be up there with the best today. Duel keyboards had their moment to join forces for the chilling ‘The Ghost of You Lingers’ during the encore which stood out amongst the much brighter selection. Daniels’ vocal effects once again dominated during this track and the concluding percussion shook much harder than any bass had to leave an impact.
Daniels proved to be Mr Nice Guy all night, handing an additional set list to a fan in the front row during one song, and constantly answering yells from the crowd with a big grin. Seeming genuinely pleased to be there, the four solidified their down to earth presence by greeting, signing and talking to any fan that hung around after the show.
The full sound of Spoon’s live show is definitely one worthy of lots of credit. The combination of new horns sections everywhere they go, haunting vocal effects and the sheer rock volume that the foursome are able to produce all work perfectly alongside the pop base at the heart of their tunes. Selling out the Corner was easy, perhaps next time they won’t be supporting at the Forum.
Photos courtesy of Anthony Smith
