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Spoon
River to River Festival
Rockefeller Park, Battery City
July 11th

It is July 11th, 2007. You are a well-loved Austin rock quartet and it’s the day after the release of your anticipated sixth album. The release is a career midpoint and a follow up to three celebrated albums. Up to this point, you have enjoyed that elusive balance of critical and commercial success with indie cool. But despite this envied track record and an appearance earlier that day for a taping on Late Night with David Letterman, the band Spoon may have been sitting together anxious. Two years after their biggest commercial hit, “Gimme Fiction”, Spoon is waiting to start their summer tour in support of their new album “Ga Ga Ga Ga”, and in doing so, upholding their authority in a genre flooded with new talent, but first they have to deal with a flooded stage.

Yes, the prospects looked dim for Spoon’s first out door performance of the tour, as a monsoon grade down pour enveloped the exposed Hudson River stage at the River to River Festival in Rockefeller Park.

But there was light opening over in Jersey, and the skies relaxed.

As for the band, whatever disquiet lingering was quickly vanquished by the sight of the cheery and hale crowd of supporters congregated in ever growing numbers around the stage. And it was with expressed gratitude to those fans did lead singer Brit Daniel and the rest of Spoon take to the stage, an hour plus late. Act two for Spoon’s career was looking good.

Spoon plays stripped down, yet sound rich music. Much of the fullness of the sound is sourced from the strong rhythmic connection between drummer Jim Eno and singer Brit Daniel, who also plays guitar. Mr. Daniel’s dry staccato guitar riffs and Mr. Eno’s heavy footed drumming lay down infectious dance grooves. This thick sound is often counter pointed by Mr. Daniel’s raw, but pop friendly voice that is refreshingly non-plaintive and likes to swaggers. Mr. Daniel definitely views himself as a rock star, and we are glad for it. He is physical and self-assured on stage, while embracing the live moment. At times he will summon feedback from his amp and crunch his delay and distortion boxes. Acts that risk self-indulgence, but on cue with the break in the song, he will reins himself back to the mic and belt out the next verse.

Despite some muscular guitar moments, Spoon is not a guitar power group. The instrument is paired with an electric organ, played by Eric Harvey. On one of the opening songs of Wednesday night’s performance, “My Mathematical Mind”, the piano takes the melodic lead, and allows Mr. Daniel to sing strongly, and undulate his voice with the pattern of the melody and rhythm. Although the song is a crowd favorite, his voice is more compelling on the album, “Gimme Fiction”. Out in the elements that night, his range seemed compressed and some nuanced notes were strained and off kilter.

The band introduced several songs from the new album, the first of which was their single“Don’t make me a Target”. An advisory anthem, the song sits back on a heavy martial beat, and has cautionary law and order imagery. The song is catchy, but not a big departure from the sound on previous albums. On the other hand, another new single, “The Underdog” is a lush and expansive piece that incorporates a horn section. The horns swing and a portrait of doom is painted with sunny bright strokes. There is abandon to the song, that seems to say, grab the girl, the wine and dance till dawn, because tomorrow it will be all over. Brit and company also honored some of its now ubiquitous hits like “I Turn My Camera On”, and brought the horns back for “Don’t Let It Get You Down”.

Spoon has long summer of festivals and outdoor gigs ahead of them and the rain will challenge some of these appearances. The band will sit listening to the rain from the comfort of their trailer, but they will know not to get too comfortable. It will be time to go to work, because there is a crowd and the second part of their career waiting for them out there in the wet.

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