Spiritualized

Hi

As a long time lurker an this forum I have finally felt the need to post.

I have seen Spiritualized many times over the years from way back in the very early days right up to the LAG shows and most recently at the Albert Hall in October (i can't remember the last tour i missed).

So here's my brief, personal review of last night's gig:

In general I thought it was a bloody brilliant show, more than a little shambolic in places, from J's mic swivelling out of reach on the opening lines of Hey Jane to the false start to The Twelve Steps. Despite these opening night stumbles there was more than enough of the old magic to keep even the most jaded fan happy.

The set was a good mix of old and new with songs from every album except LGM and Songs in A & E. Particular highlights for me were a glorious rendition of Stay With Me, She Kissed Me And It Felt Like A Hit, a ferocious Electricity and a much welcome return to the set for Born Never Asked / Electric Mainline. Hey Jane is also an excellent set opener and sure to become a long time favourite. All of the new songs really hit the mark, if anything I would have happily seen a couple of older songs jettisoned in favour of more from SH,SL.

I felt the inclusion of the two slow songs from Amazing Grace (familiar from the A&E tour) made for a slight mid set lull. Ending the set on the desert section of Cop Shoot Cop also felt a little odd, personally I find that a bit of a tease as the full version is so magnificent.

In itself I think it was a great show and also a sign of even greater things to come as the tour progresses and any remaining wrinkles are ironed out

To answer a question bought up in another thread the band could well be the finest line-up I have seen (and I have seen them all)! The new bass player, though clearly still finding his feet, is in my opinion the best they have had. I know Will has a lot of fans around here and I don't want to upset anyone with my first post but personally I always found the bass lines on LGM rather trite almost to the point of taking the edge of an otherwise incredible album.

Hope those of you off to see other dates on the tour enjoy them as much as I did this one.

Hello,

I too felt the need to graduate from "lurker" to "poster" in order to comment on last night's show.

It was gorgeous.

It was the fourth time I've seen them, but probably the best.

I was expecting a few token older ones amidst a near run-through of Sweet Heart..., and whilst that would, I'm sure, have been excellent, all the same I was pleased and enthralled by the career-spanning nature of the set.

Lay Back In The Sun was my highlight, along with the closing trio of The Twelve Steps (which I NEVER thought I'd see live), Electricity and Cop Shoot Cop.

The latter, though, ended the show on something of an anticlimax. They still had fifteen minutes before curfew, so they could easily have played the full song. I think they were just obliged to finish earlier to make room for an asinine ska/punk club night.

Still. Apart from that, it was amazing. Lord Let It Rain On Me - I saw the light.

Hello 'lurkers'- thanks for the reviews!!! It's always exciting to hear about the first show- even though usually tours take a while to properly kick in! I'm jealous you got to be there!

Last nights show was interesting in many ways. I have seen them many many times since they began and although I never saw Spacemen 3 I thought last night was probably very close to what a Spacemen 3 show was like. It was rough and raw, Jason standing, mis-starts, Doggen lost in his own world, great songs .........born never asked was amazing.........very heavy and different sounding Electricity, and songs I can't remember hearing live before........didn't even recognize 12 steps for a while! Be interesting to see them again in a week in Manchester. It's only going to get better.

.

That's a pretty decent set list Glad that TMTTOS has been dropped, never really felt the Spiritualized version. Still looks like a little lull in the middle though.

Twelve Steps and Electric Mainline....nice.

It certainly was a great set. I wonder how much they will chop and change through the tour, they have obviously rehearsed and played Come Together and Little Girl for the 6 music show.

Every time I see a Spiritualized gig I spend the next month wishing I'd booked more. I think their sound must release some kind of addictive chemical in the brain.

was good.
nowhere near loud enough though.

Waldo Jeffers wrote: ...The Twelve Steps...

I've been waiting a long time to hear that live. Made up, they have to play that on Thursday night now! YASS!!!!

PHOTOS

AND SHE'S BACK!!!!!
Rescue Rooms was Blooming Brilliant
where shall I put the photos I took then?
say "hi" if you see me at a gig
doing Oxford, Bristol and Manchester
white hair with a ribbon in it!

www.p-b-e.smugmug.com/Music/Spiritualized-Rescue-Rooms

feel free to download any ... just hover over the pic open as "original" and save

lots of love
Elspeth xx

www.p-b-e.smugmug.com/Music/Spiritualized-Rescue-Rooms

Here's mi pics from Fridays' gig...

Elspeth xx

Welcome back Elspeth,

Those photos are fantastic!

Gotta love those snakeskin shoes...

yeah, great pics Elspeth, really good

12 Steps?! Electric Mainline?! Stay With Me?!

Please tell me someone recorded this!

clewsr wrote:http://drownedinsound.com/gigs/45355/reviews/4144668

Review bears little resemblance to the excellent gig I was at: Born, Never Asked into Electric Mainline was met with probably the greatest applause of the night rather than "with squints of "Was it..? Wasn't it...?" semi-approval"; CSC wasn't anything like brutal and noisy; the mic problem in Hey Jane affected the first verse only.

Sound was fine at the front, but I guess at the back the standard knobheads who spend good money to try and hold a drunken conversation or phone call above the sound of a live band maybe would have made hearing properly difficult - I heard a good few shouts to turn it up.

Odd that they (well, Jason) cocked up the start of 12 Steps, I heard them doing it at the soundcheck from outside: had to laugh at J glaring at his amp as if it was to blame for him starting the song in a different key to everyone else. Nice to see the way the band held it together and the song really kicked in when J got sorted out.

Rescue Rooms has always seemed a reasonable venue to me, seen a few gigs there, both Spz shows I've seen there have been superb with an intimate vibe.