Birmingham Micro Review 02.05.22

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jesus son
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Birmingham Micro Review 02.05.22

Post by jesus son »

Very, very, empty Symphony Hall, but the band were on top form and musically I personally enjoyed it a lot more than Bath for some reason.

Seemed to be plenty of Rugby folk in attendance.

No surprises set list wise.

No additional musicians.

Current backing singers are some of the best since the days of the full choirs.

Doggen was down an amp from the Bath show.

Strange single bloke stage invasion! Dealt with by the guitar techs pretty quickly, but it was all a bit odd - band seemingly didn't blink an eye.

Kevin had a little singalong to Sail On Through

Very attentive/polite audience and hardly any "c'mon Jason's"

Strobes 9/10

Sound was excellent as you might expect.

Very smiley Jason exiting the stage.

Next one, please...
Vancouver
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Re: Birmingham Micro Review 02.05.22

Post by Vancouver »

Don't like hearing about "very empty" venues :(
angel-sighs
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Re: Birmingham Micro Review 02.05.22

Post by angel-sighs »

I didn’t see it as ‘very empty’ myself. Not sold out for sure, but a healthy crowd. I’ve been to much more sparsely attended Spz gigs.

My feelings are similar to others who have seen shows on this tour. In an ideal world I would like a slightly different setlist (Soul on Fire just seems to be played as an easy tune to bash out. Or maybe I am just bored of it personally. That Heading For The Top was jettisoned for that is crime of the century!) but after the reports here I went in with my expectations calibrated accordingly. He is presenting his recent work here. If you go wanting the space rock beast of old, then you are going to be disappointed. But largely the songs were played really well, and I enjoyed it for what it was.

The sound mix was dynamic and clear. They can take it down to a whisper (think about the bit when they take it right down in The Morning After) and then build it to a nice big crescendo, and it feels great. And all the little details of the songs seemed spot on- having an extra guitarist helps here I think. And I really like what the new keyboard player is doing. He seems really into it, and seemed to be adding a lot more different textures than the previous guy did. Thought Shine A Light keyboards actually sounded a bit Kate Radley style!

Yep lightshow great- definitely did the job. Strobes and colours in the right bits. Much better than the cheap looking stuff they have had on other tours in recent years



The stage invasion was really strange. The guy seemed to be tripping on something. He went up to the front to gurn a bit, then wandered off. But came back to jump on stage. Jason didn’t react in the slightest.


My highlights:

Hey Jane- still one of their best ever songs in my opinion- and sounded fantastic.

I’m Coming Home Again- I think this may evolve nicely . Doggen gets to do his feedback and whammy bar stuff which is always good

The A Song- sounded massive. They can still crank the decibels when they want.

Sail On Through- one of my favourite recent songs. They nailed it. The floaty intro with those guitar sounds, the fingerclicks, everything. The intro seemed more stretched out actually- I think Jason was tuning his guitar and the others were waiting to come in.

A Perfect Miracle- just a great song played well.


Not so good:

First Spz show (that’s not acoustic) where there wasn’t a wigout at the end. That seemed very ..different!

Damaged- not enough of a song here for me. There’s even other ballads I would prefer to this.

Here It Comes- again this has never done it for me. It’s like their version of a wimpy, jaunty indie song. But it was played well enough I suppose.

And just that slight midset lull, but nothing too drastic.
sunray
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Re: Birmingham Micro Review 02.05.22

Post by sunray »

Arts Desk review posted on the Steve Hoffman forum: https://theartsdesk.com/new-music/spiri ... ce-rockers
Nineteen...Nineteen...Six Five
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