Since the first time I saw them back in 2001 (Listen Here!), seeing Spiritualized live is always a special experience. I wasn’t prepared for what I was walking into that night at The Fox in Boulder, and while I have been progressively more prepared at each of the successive shows I’ve attended, Jason Pierce (aka J. Spaceman) and company always have some tricks up their sleeve. From the all white stage outfits at The Ogden several years back, to the mind-blowing take on “I Think I’m in Love” at Desert Daze in Joshua Tree in 2017, there is nothing quite like a Spiritualized show.
Monday’s show at The Ogden surprised many by leaning quite heavily on material from the band’s as yet unreleased album Everything Was Beautiful (dropping 4/22 via Fat Possum – Pre-order here). In all I believe they played five of the albums seven tracks including “Always Together With You,” “Best Thing You Never Had (The D Song),” “Let It Bleed (For Iggy),” “The A Song (Laid In Your Arms),” and “I’m Coming Home Again” which, for some bands, might alienate their fanbase a little, but those in attendance at the Ogden were entranced by new and old songs alike.
The show kicked of with “Hey Jane” from 2012’s Sweet Heart Sweet Light before walking back in time to the 2003 gem “She Kissed Me (It Felt Like a Hit), and then the always welcome “Shine a Light” from Spaceman’s first album as Spiritualized, Lazer Guided Melodies. The room was awash in sound as the three guitars sparred with each other and the beams of light that bounced off the disco ball suspended above the stage.
From there the band shifted focus to newer material and the next nine songs featured were either from the previously mentioned unreleased album, or 2018’s And Nothing Hurt. (It’s worth noting here that together the titles of the two albums reference a quote from Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five: “Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt.”) Again, it’s no secret that Spiritualized won over legions of fans with their first four albums including the revered Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space, so it was a little surprising to see such a focus on newer material, but this band will keep you guessing.
The only track from Ladies and Gentlemen… – “Come Together” – fell in the second to last spot on the setlist, and there is no doubt that it delivered that fix of psychedelic nostalgia that many were looking for. Pierce then served up “Sail on Through” as the closer and the appropriate “So Long You Pretty Thing” as the evening’s lone encore. While this show may have been light on the classics (and the Monday night routing took a little out of the crowd’s energy), it showcased a band that isn’t afraid to show fans that the newer songs can carry a show, and there’s no doubt that it delivered on the Spiritualized experience.
+ There are no comments
Add yours