Spiritualized Glastonbury Live 27th BBC Radio 6 + Video

[The Dr]

and it is interesting, to carry on from above, that the split seems to be 'not enough oldies' vs 'why nothing from slsh'?

if they did a setlist purley pre lagwafis then they'd be accused of being a tribute act and if it was all post ag they'd be accused of abandoning the 'real' fans. so what to do? what to do? maybe just play lagwafis...o wait...and wasn't that slagged off in some places as being nostalgic? it seems there are two options left to people, either a) go to a show and just enjoy that show as no two are alike (seriously, even the rigid setlist of the bunnymen is not performed the same exactly each night) or b) stay at home and hide behind the sofa with the photo album and some headphones. whichever works for you!

[johnnyboy]

2006 the Acoustic Mainlines tour started - into 2007 I think

The Edinburgh show which I attended remains the most ecstatic gig I've ever attended - the good vibes there could have spun the earth of it's axis.

By contrast the Xmas show at the Union Chapel - complete with an awesome rendition of 'Silent Night' - is fantastic as the crowd are near silent.

These shows should be available on here in the bootleg threads - if not, PM me!

I was at the Union Chapel show and it was so emotional and fantastic, esp Silent Night, that one had me grinning and covered in goose bumps. Having a copy of that would be lovely so will seek it out.

All this talk of the Glastonbury show has made me tune in via the iPlayer whilst sat at my desk at work. My personal opinion is that gigs never come across that well on TV unless it is something pretty special. I don't own Amazing Grace or the last album so can't comment on those songs but one song in and it sounds rather lovely to my ears, though you'll never ever get the power of actually being there (stating the bleedin' obvious here). Bands will never be as they were back in 1990-whatever, times change, we all change, the band changes. Let him do as he wants is my humble opinion, but then I'm not as obsessed by them (not using obsessed as a bad thing here!) as some people on this lovely forum. He looks happy and healthy enough, and Lord Let It Rain On Me is sounding good to my ears, just wish I could turn it up a lot more, and stop the bloody annoying cut outs in my connection.

UPDATE: halfway through, time to go home, but really happy with what I've heard so far)

[olan]

My posting might be misleading. I'm not hankering after 1991, 1992 or [insert your favourite year]. I am just looking for a more balanced gig. Nearly all the shows I have seen Spiritualized play in the last 10 years have suffered from two issues: (i) the gigs seem to start out very quiet and the volume builds over the show and (ii) just as the show has really started to build momentum, there is a lull due to two or three slow atmospheric tunes. I have no problem with the slower tunes, but if you have them 3/4 of the way into the set then there is little chance to build the atmosphere again. To me the Spiritualized gigs I enjoyed the most all have an epic finale. So, I don't much care what is played as long as it is LOUD (I'm a meathead I know, but what can I do) and the set is more carefully paced e.g. in a 12 song set play 5 up tempo tunes, 2/3 low tempo numbers and then 3/4 up tempo/intense songs to finish not 7 quick, 3 slow, 2 fast as seems to happen now.....(exaggerated for effect there ).

[sunray]

First off, I think it's great that we're having a good discussion about Spiritualized again..it seems to have been a while.

'Oh Baby' and 'Rated X' may not be my pick of their catalogue but hearing them live around the Amazing Grace tour made me really get into them.

I think from a gig that slowly builds from the ever-evolving 'Here It Comes' (sounding way more epic now) into some progressively more intense stuff ('Electric Mainline' ) those two tracks would be a welcome cooling off, particularly if you were actually there at the festival and on the requisite Glasto enhancers...

Ah now...that's just crazy talk. Onwards and upwards I say Having those two songs dropped in after would send me into the horrors (looong time since i've had them) or at the very least, intense boredom!

Jason Pierce is a 'Drudge Pusher'.

Best thing about that gig was WWJ, i'm liking the way they're playing it out now, much closer to the Spacemen I think.

That is a superb line actually

Hey, pedantically enough Spiritualzied have been playing WWJ in a similar fashion since late on the epic 2012 tour: the Sydney Opera House gig had a fantastic take on it. It's since grown and gone full circle unto the, yep Spacemen 3 style thing they have now.

PS: The 'country shuffle' version from 2008 was awesome too!

Thankyou. It made me giggle when I thought of it.

Agree with you on WWJ, it has developed nicely over the past few years. I went through a decade or more of hating the way they were playing it but recently it seems to have found a nice space again.

I have stated on many occasions that my favourite period of Spiritualized is 1991 - 93, and that it also took me fifteen years to realise that I wouldn't experience that sort of thing again, however, I have no wish to return to the nineties. What I, and I think others, were trying to say is that aside from the setlist pros and cons the band just isn't firing on all cylinders. 'Solid, workmanlike, competent' have all been mentioned. Not bad per se but just nothing to get the juices flowing.

Personally, i will never ever tire of hearing 'Shine A Light' and 'Electric Mainline', I just felt that recent airings have been flat and not approaching the usual levels of bliss they inspire. The rest of the set just doesn't thrill me. I would rather hear 'Heading For The Top', 'I Am What I Am' and Hey Jane' than 'Electricity', 'She Kissed Me..' or 'Come Together'.
Even the unreleased stuff like 'A Song' (I think. It's the blues chugger) would be welcome. As for the ballads? Well, i'll never get my head around those!

Like Olan said, the pacing of the set is all wrong. Just as momentum builds it's snatched away with Jason's most dreary tunes.

Still, i'm looking forward to the new album as some of the songs from a few years ago whetted the appetite. Couple that with Youth producing too and there's something to look forward to studiowise.
I'm just not feeling the current live set up, albeit from a screen and stereo rather than in the flesh, but I think one can still gauge each performance respectively. To me the band just isn't catching fire at the moment.

I do have an inkling that the Leeds show will be used as an opportunity to air different material though in preparation for LPF.

Apologies for long post but I think that's it for now....

[TheWarmth]

I know I have said this before, but I will say it again: The Pitchfork performance from 2008 was staggering. Maybe the best I've ever seen them. I don't understand why Jason ignores all of the highlights from Songs In A&E when compiling setlists these days. Many of those songs sounded phenomenal live.

[heisenberg]

Heisenberg - go and download that comp of various tunes from the 2013 tour that is in the bootlegs thread - if unable to do so PM me.

Some incredible stuff there, recorded in early stages through compromised means (non-soundboard) yet most of that stuff is incredible - of course there a few 'ballads' but also some primeval rock and roll shit that rocks my world. Abstract and electric...

Just finished this. Love this. Let's Dance outro is so hypnotic.

BZA, little heads up- your last track here is listed as feel like goin' home, when in fact it's a beautiful version of Spread Your Wings. You almost gave me a coronary there man, thought you'd stumbled on a spz hen's tooth there.

Absolute respect for putting this together.

[Huxley123]

I thought it was really really good, a world away from when I saw them in Austin. Lighting and sound were great and you could actually see what they were trying to achieve with these songs in the 'one soundscape setlist'

Would love to cherry pick a setlist though, so many more upbeat songs never get an airing!

[Multi]

Gonna have to comment since this thread picked up steam:

The Glastonbury show looks ok. It's not terrible, but it's also far from their best.

That said, as much as I'm sure those 92-95 shows were amazing in person, I find the bootlegs that are available to be a bit... slow (or the recordings are terrible)--for the record, LGM and PP are my most played albums. For me though, my personal favorite bootleg era is the 97-98 range with the following three shows being my top picks:

9/5/97 The Garage, London
12/12/97 Deep Ellum, Dallas, TX (props to Nitrous Oxide & BZA!)
6/26/98 Roskilde Festival

When I saw SPZ on the SHSL tour they delivered amazing performances of Stay With Me and Cop Shoot Cop, and at Pappy & Harriets with the Kid Millions line-up, their version of Take Your Time was unbelievable, so I know as well as the rest of us that Jason is more than capable of achieving new highs. In order for that to happen though, he probably needs to rework the set list and (I would) look to the encore from the Royal Albert Hall show in 2011 for inspiration, combined with the above mentioned songs... which gives us this:

Here It Comes (The Road, Let's Go)
Cheapster/Shine A Light ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViKTqEXCuzk -- rules!)
Electric Mainline
Stay With Me
New Song/Anything
Good Times
Walking With Jesus
Take Your Time/Cop Shoot Cop/Take Me To The Other Side (pick one)

I dunno, seems legit to me... and there's some AG thrown in for good measure!

[angelsighs]

no one should be apologising for long posts.. I like the fact that this gig has split opinion and has got the juices flowing in terms of debate.. so here's my long post..

It is weird when a band you think are invincible let you down- but the fact of life is, eventually they will. how on earth do you expect the bar to be raised every time over a long career like this? no band can maintain transcendent gigs forever, or they will just change direction and not provide what you first fell in love with.
for me I remember that point with The Verve when I saw them on the reunion tour.. as McCabe was back on board etc, I was expecting pure transcendence.. I just got a very good rock gig, still better than 90% of bands but they became less than godlike for me.

it's funny that people disagree about when the tipping point was. I am relatively new on board- my first Spz show was on the LICD tour (2002), that gig is definitely up there for me, along with the Acoustic Mainlines shows and also a stunning gig I saw on the A&E tour (2009?). other shows have been hit and miss but still with incredible moments where it all ignites (particularly, even if a gig is mediocre the noise blow out at the end always left me satisfied). the point is that I don't think it's a linear thing, it will be up and down and unpredictable. I agree with Runcible that you shouldn't write Jason off. please lets not fall into the trap of being old farts who say "it'll never be as good as 1992!"

In terms of 'slow songs', lets not forget that they have always been an essential part of the Spz equation. I remember reading that one of the reasons the band started was that Jason felt that the Spacemen were neglecting their softer, more sensitive side in the live arena (instead just going for the jugular). what I like about the band is the extremes they go to (LGM is hardly an album of balls to the wall noise either is it? obv the gigs at that time were a different story). that said, you've got to be clever about it, and about how you construct the set. particularly at a festival.

as many have said above, I think the Glasto set seems simply workmanlike and average. the problem isn't the setlist per se (although the songs chosen do seem a bit old hat) it's the fact they seem to be played in a workmanlike way. if they had reached for something special and failed, that would almost be better. I actually really like Oh Baby and Rated X, but these aren't even particularly good live versions.
still some moments of the old magic there- Electic Mainline was great. She Kissed Me rocked.

on a more negative tip- here's my theory- Jason is skint, festivals are easy money, you turn up, plug in and away you go. The band seem to be a motley crew of sessions dudes, he has just assembled this band to get through the summer and get some funds together. slap together a setlist of the easiest songs to learn. I love Jason but he does have a lazy streak. and he's a creature of habit (it's funny that we get excited by "ooh jason is using a Jaguar rather than a Thinline! epochal!"), so I think all these festivals will be treated the same whether a folk or psych fest. I don't think the setlist will change much in the near future.

2006 the Acoustic Mainlines tour started - into 2007 I think

The Edinburgh show which I attended remains the most ecstatic gig I've ever attended - the good vibes there could have spun the earth of it's axis.

By contrast the Xmas show at the Union Chapel - complete with an awesome rendition of 'Silent Night' - is fantastic as the crowd are near silent.

*gets smug face on* I was at both of these shows! the difference in the audience reaction was just as you describe, it was weird. insane enthusiasm as opposed to hushed reverence. but both amazing gigs that left me with a warm glow.

[*] I don't recognise the drummer, bassist or keyboard player (the drummer did remind me a tad of Matt Berry though!). Is this the band that's played all the dates so far this year.

the bass player is the fella from Starsailor, he played on the SHSL tour. isn't the drummer (who you have now ruined for me!) Johnny Aitken who played on Amazing Grace? dunno about the keyboard player.

[shalloboi]

finally got around to watching this and i was much more impressed with this than the primavera set (which i thought sounded really uninspired and limp).

i agree it starts out a bit average with a done-on-autopilot feel, but it has a nice build-up to the end, which i think is really solid and satisfying. that 'electric mainline' is every bit as good as the one i saw them play at the metro in 2012, 'she kissed me...' is probably the best version i've heard, i love that version of 'walking with jesus' (i thought it was better than any i've seen in person) and a nice, heavy 'come together' to wrap things up.

i think it showed a glimpse of that fire that we all get so excited about when seeing them live- everyone knows that feeling here. that could be why opinion is so divided- it's definitely there, it just never achieves lift-off. a great spiritualized show has that fire throughout the whole thing- it's spellbinding and difficult to forget. some of us have seen it so often we get a little greedy.

i don't know, it's not the type of setlist i would pick, but i thought it was well-done for the most part. the mix was spot-on and the light show was really impressive. thanks to evan:) for sharing it!

[runaway]

I thought it seemed OK. Maybe some are being overly critical?
That being said, I couldn't stand to hear anything off Amazing Grace, live or not.

[The Dr]

can i just state the obvious- this was a festival setlist, not a 'fans by tickets just for us' gig

[The Dr]

I thought it was really really good, a world away from when I saw them in Austin. Lighting and sound were great and you could actually see what they were trying to achieve with these songs in the 'one soundscape setlist'

Would love to cherry pick a setlist though, so many more upbeat songs never get an airing!

how beautiful was the footage of the 'stars' going past the screen?!

[The Dr]

Spiritualized frontman Jason Pierce has described music festivals as "the death of art".

Speaking to Drowned In Sound, the singer says, "Festivals are the death of [art]. And they’ve gotten straighter as the years have gone on too. They’re less about drugs and rock and roll now. They’re more about community."

Pierce says: "I know everyone has started thinking that [festivals are] the way you see bands now, but I’ve always said bands are the least important part of a festival."

He continues: "Yet bands, in their wisdom still soak up the glory, like they’re worth THIS many people. Or worse, when you get those awful singalongs, and a band’s ego kicks in when the crowd sings their words back. It’s as if they’re standing on stage thinking ‘This is what we’re worth’ and really the audience would sing 'We’ll Meet Again' if it was playing."

Pierce also spoke about his plans for his next album, the follow-up to this year's 'Sweet Heart, Sweet Light', saying he's been influenced by the improvisational performances he's seen at London's Café Oto. "I want to do something freer," he says, adding that the album is likely to be more collaborative and hinting at a possible collaboration with Thurston Moore.

Read more at http://www.nme.com/news/spiritualized/6 ... tudrQYZ.99

[The Dr]

out of interest do people prefer the live versions of shine a light/let it come down/mainline etc or the album versions as, for me, there is a marked difference in the two

[clewsr]

Spiritualized frontman Jason Pierce has described music festivals as "the death of art".

Yes, but I didn't think that was going to be a self fulling prophesy! Spiritualized are the one band that I do not just expect to turn up and do the bog standard.

on a more negative tip- here's my theory- Jason is skint, festivals are easy money, you turn up, plug in and away you go. The band seem to be a motley crew of sessions dudes, he has just assembled this band to get through the summer and get some funds together. slap together a setlist of the easiest songs to learn. I love Jason but he does have a lazy streak. and he's a creature of habit (it's funny that we get excited by "ooh jason is using a Jaguar rather than a Thinline! epochal!"), so I think all these festivals will be treated the same whether a folk or psych fest. I don't think the setlist will change much in the near future.

I think perhaps is correct and probably answers the 'why aren't they playing any new songs' question. I guess one might get less tickets sales for a future tour if people feel they have already heard the new stuff at the Summer festivals. But it really is - in my view - time to retire Shine a light and Electric mainline, plus oh baby and rated x. Make room for some SHSL and perhaps Let it Flow which has been played a fair bit recently lay back in the sun, and I think I'm in love. For me that would be a much more enjoyable show.

In terms of 'slow songs', lets not forget that they have always been an essential part of the Spz equation. I remember reading that one of the reasons the band started was that Jason felt that the Spacemen were neglecting their softer, more sensitive side in the live arena (instead just going for the jugular). what I like about the band is the extremes they go to (LGM is hardly an album of balls to the wall noise either is it? obv the gigs at that time were a different story). that said, you've got to be clever about it, and about how you construct the set. particularly at a festival.

.

LGM was gently produced, but all the songs on their are uplifting and finish on a crescendo. Live they became monstrous and turned themselves inside out a few times before the end of the song. None of those compare to the ballady songs off latter years (apart from Baby I'm just a fool which really should be played live..) which start of steady, and finish...steady.

Compare Feel So Sad with Broken Heart. Feel So Sad is a cathartic masterpiece that can genuinely make you feel better after listening to all 13 blissful minutes. Broken Heart wallows in the sadness, but doesn't offer any redemption by the end of the song.

I'll always love the Recurring to LGM era of Spiritualized the most because to me it is their most uplifting and psychedelic era. The sound has progressed in way which doesn't quite hit this sweet spot for me, but I still love the band and they are still better than anyone else out there.

Particularly this morning with the new track playing which for me takes off right from where Luminescence and Effervescent on the Run / I Want you Single left off. Pretty much exactly where I want to be!

[The Dr]

thanks for the link in the other thread!

SPIRITUALIZED
Amazing Grace (2003)
Recorded in three weeks, Amazing Grace evokes the garage aesthetic of Nuggets, as well as strung-out ballads like “Lord Let It Rain On Me”…
I was working with Spring-Heeled Jack, recording a lot of free-form jazz. We weren’t writing songs as such, just experimenting with getting sound out of instruments. With Amazing Grace, I had this idea that I wanted to make a record where the musicians would only hear the song on the day of recording, so what we got was their immediate response to it. Then we’d try and make a record out of that. I really like that album, because it was so missed at the time. People were saying it’s a garage record, like The White Stripes, but it’s not. It’s simpler than Spacemen 3, but there’s something about the sound of the songs, they’ve got that sparkle in all Spiritualized records, something to do with the high frequencies, the air at the top of it. And it was good to make.

Read more at http://www.uncut.co.uk/blog/the-view-fr ... LbCPGqf.99

presumably if he still likes it so much it would explain why he still plays the songs from it

[runaway]

Ugh. Thurston Moore is cool and shit but his music just plain sucks.

[Huxley123]

Here It Comes (The Road, Let's Go)
Cheapster/Shine A Light ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViKTqEXCuzk -- rules!)
Electric Mainline
Stay With Me
New Song/Anything
Good Times
Walking With Jesus
Take Your Time/Cop Shoot Cop/Take Me To The Other Side (pick one)

I dunno, seems legit to me... and there's some AG thrown in for good measure!

Good setlist, as I said earlier I thought it was really good considering what I was expecting and I think they performed well above what the setlist they went with actually deserves!

For a festival with non fans etc I'd want to go with something like this which i feel keeps the momentum up a bit more than the set they went with, flows more plus has more feel good moments.

LAGWAFIS
LAY BACK IN THE SUN
ELECTRIC MAINLINE
SHINE A LIGHT
ELECTRICITY
KISSED ME FELT LIKE A HIT
MEDICATION
WALKING WITH JESUS
TAKE ME TO THE OTHER SIDE

[scarecrowz]

Soul on Fire still sucks though...

[Muscles]

I'm jealous you have festivals at all.
We have coachella but it is so hot.
After one beer you pass out.
You'd think some rich fuckers in Seattle
Could do something up there.
The girls dress skimpy and that's a plus
But the sun makes it useless.
I think Jason should use more heroin
Make it more dangerous
Perhaps even od.

[Muscles]

I like that song "so hot"
He sings "so hot and I ain't got alot"
"don't need much"
Which record is that on cannot remember.

[BzaInSpace]

Yes Muscles -

Jason should use more heroin

Are you out of your fucking mind?

Actually don't answer that - that you appear to have forgotten the Spacemen catalogue and those diabolical Beatles covers says it all.

Get help dude. Lord knows you need it...

[SpaceLine]

Has nothing whatsoever to do with nostalgia. Plenty of new, great songs. Saw them last tour, it was superb. Loved it.

So no one is saying your favorite band sucks, you can relax. But that set list is just as I said the first time - pathetic.

[scarecrowz]

Very weak trolling for someone going by the name of "Muscles"

[angelsighs]

watched a bit of this again.
it's true that Jason is looking healthy. he might have even put on a couple of pounds? still makes me look like John Candy though.
who's that on the front of his T shirt?

and yeah, agree that this version of WWJ is pretty damn fine. kind of a mixture of the 'Taking Drugs..' and 'Perfect Prescription' takes. and like how it builds up again. still needs to be louder though.

[D.]

Ugh. Thurston Moore is cool and shit but his music just plain sucks.

agreed. he should hook up with lee ranaldo instead

[larryfromtheblock]

Apologies if this has been posted before, but it's the first time I've seen it. Live from Glastonbury 1993, Thing's never be the same + interview with Jason + Smiles.
https://youtu.be/qNgXpoNa5Ps?t=2h23m2s

[BzaInSpace]

First off, I think it's great that we're having a good discussion about Spiritualized again..it seems to have been a while.

Yes! Couldn't agree more. After months of lifeless stuff about any number of reductive space-rock acts (sorry to anybody this offends and that) this place has really heated up - much like the UK, although being in fucking Aberdeen we're getting way too much rain - floods and that too...

But yeah I love it when these big debates open. Always interesting reading...

'Oh Baby' and 'Rated X' may not be my pick of their catalogue but hearing them live around the Amazing Grace tour made me really get into them.

I think from a gig that slowly builds from the ever-evolving 'Here It Comes' (sounding way more epic now) into some progressively more intense stuff ('Electric Mainline' ) those two tracks would be a welcome cooling off, particularly if you were actually there at the festival and on the requisite Glasto enhancers...['quote]

Ah now...that's just crazy talk. Onwards and upwards I say Having those two songs dropped in after would send me into the horrors (looong time since i've had them) or at the very least, intense boredom!

Haha! I dunno, my tolerance isn't what it once was, I would definitely need some mellow I think...

Has nothing whatsoever to do with nostalgia. Plenty of new, great songs. Saw them last tour, it was superb. Loved it.

So no one is saying your favorite band sucks, you can relax. But that set list is just as I said the first time - pathetic.

Ha, I can sleep easy...

Seriously - favourite band? Probably. At least on a par with Maroon 5 anyway.

Hell, I'm happy to actually have favourite bands or otherwise. Most people I know now outwith the music freaks only have things like favourite car, favourite supermarket, favourite James Bond...

So pleased to state that any new music from Spiritualized (and many others) fills me with a beautiful kind of joyful excitement. Still. I hope this never changes.

Hoping for a different kind of show in the Brudenell in September - I suspect this was a 'festival set'. I think we should remember we're bringing all our collective years of listening to Spiritualized here, my guess is loads of people at these festivals will never have heard them before.

They should have played 'Hey Jane' at least though - that was evolving and sounding really good the last shows it was played at. 'Come Down Easy' would be a great way to finish too.

[The Dr]

[


Hell, I'm happy to actually have favourite bands or otherwise. Most people I know now outwith the music freaks only have things like favourite car, favourite supermarket, favourite James Bond...

S.

the other day i was mocked for trying to engage people in a 'what is your favourite river' discussion

[runaway]

Maroon 5, heh heh heh.

[BzaInSpace]

[Luminescence]

I watched this years Glastonbury set and have kind of mixed views. I was disappointed there were no songs from 'SHSL' and it did seem an old set list, but it was still a Spiritualized gig. I thought there were some really good bits, I know a lot of people didn't like the 'Oh baby' & 'Rated x' inclusion as it stopped the flow, but I like those songs.

Yes, I thought the gig was a little flat at times and I could'nt work out whether Jason looked well or not or if he seemed particularly happy. Hopefully he is and we can be raving about the new album soon.

[mojo filters]

[


Hell, I'm happy to actually have favourite bands or otherwise. Most people I know now outwith the music freaks only have things like favourite car, favourite supermarket, favourite James Bond...

S.

the other day i was mocked for trying to engage people in a 'what is your favourite river' discussion

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