Ok, everyone says Spoon is a great band. Only, I've never seen em. Never got into their music or anything like that... i ve heard songs... can't say they flat-out suck.

Well, they have great equipment; expensive and professional. They have roadies to tune their instruments, but why do I just feel like I'm just hearing great sound. Where's the great songs? Maybe they have some. Its only 7 or 8 songs into the show, but I figure such a critically acclaimed band would be slapping me in the face with their awesome cache of songs!

Don't you love all those far-away digital pics people take at concerts? The ones that you can decorate a personal web page with.... a series of photos that are proof you were at that show. Far away and outta focus. I don't have a digital camera... wait yes I do... maybe I'm a lackluster dull guy, but I think Spoon live is boring this far into the show.

This show even sold out! When the songs end, there are tepid applauds that die out after a few seconds. Noone is moving around to this music... most people are just talking over it.

So is it just hype or what? I want to know. I've heard a few studio recordings of some songs that are pretty decent, but for a band that's sooo nice and has a pleasant, docile crowd that would rather talk over the $25.oo show that they paid for, why are they so popular?

Wait a minute! The singer just sang, 'do you belive in rock & roll?'... this is cool & all but this band should be asking themselves that question & not singing songs about their unintereseted approach to songs. To me its the equivillant of singing 'I'm just sittin here playing my guitar'. How about they do some rocking! [ome ass-shakin-girl-friendly-indie rock? How bout that?

Maybe drugs or something will help. Eh. Their lyrics are ok other than that quip about belieing in rock n roll. Ah, the drumming. Again for a famous band... the timing is great and professional, but so is smooth jazz and pop-country...

Did I mention they have horns?.... that don't do much but sound like another guitar playing another boring guitar part, but they're horns!

Don't get me started on The New Pornographers. The band was as excited as a dead fish to be playing for a capacity crowd of 1,700. It seems like bands just don't care. One of the members of the New Pornnographers exemplified his distaste for live performance by clapping his hands to his laptop (some kind of way it was part of the song... some beep or texture). Only he fell off the beat over and over again and just laughed as the handful of the many in attendance who tried to clap along gave up participating before the forst verse was over. Sure some poeple clapped the whole song, but it just didn't sound like they gave a shit either. Hey, at least this band sang their asses off. I'll give em that.

Ok, back to my real time review... Spoon just drug itself though another slow, soft & guitar-oriented dirge. I'm not stickin around for the encore.

The same way Of Montreal's live show proved they were a band worthy of a hard earned paycheck, Spoon showed me they didn't live up to their studio work or the legend they've earned from right time, right place. Not tonight anyway. What are the best Spoon songs so I can understand what the big deal is?

Misspellings & all,
kerry m.



(Hey, hungry isn't a mood. Have you heard someone say they were in a hungry kinda mood?)