Spoon: An Unexpected Homecoming
This is a writing sample from Scripted writer Angela Goldberg
(Op-ed piece published on inyourspeakers.com on January 14, 2015)
On August 29 Spoon opened up their tour promoting, They Want My Soul at the State Theater in the quiet hippie oasis meets bustling college town of Ithaca, New York. The show marked a few big moments; the first leg of Spoon’s tour, the band’s first ever show in Ithaca, and my first Spoon show.
In a town that prides itself for its music and art as much as its natural beauty, it seemed as though most of Ithaca turned out for the show. Amongst all of the shiny new-ness of the experience, was an underlying sense of homecoming; a past melding with present moment of clarity.
The band opened up the show differently than they would open any of the other shows of the tour. Keyboard player, Eric Harvey, has a past interwoven into upstate New York and with the Ithaca music scene. In March 2012, Harvey released a solo album entitled Lake Disappointment, partially recorded locally at the beautiful Electric Wilburland. The album showcases low key, cinematically expansive tracks of dark indie-folk music and features an array of local talent backing him. Accordingly, he paid homage to the region by opening the show with a troupe of musicians who he dubbed on stage, “The Ithaca All-Stars.” The audience recognized these guys from their domination of the music community, and as, well. . . our friends. The Ithaca music scene is a tight knit, intensely proud community and being in that audience, watching your neighbors open up for Spoon is surreal. It was a transporting moment, one that almost made me forget that the headliners weren't going to be John Brown’s Body, Big Mean Sound Machine, Jimkata, or another band with strong local ties.
After one set of familiar sounds and faces, another began as Spoon opened with the title track from They Want My Soul, diving straight into the new album. Occasionally, at shows in theaters with assigned seats, there's that uncomfortable moment where standing seems taboo and dancing is reserved specifically for chair-moves, but from the first note, the audience was on its feet. The band took us on a whirlwind of brand new songs that sounded like home for both the band and their fans. Everything from the stage production to Britt Daniel’s voice was tightened and haunting. Morphing shadows of each band member were cast against white backdrops as Daniel crooned, “Right now I know no other time / Right now I know no other place,” over the top of the enthralled, pulsating crowd.
Their August 8 release of They Want My Soul, was a sort of homecoming for the band, in general. The album, met with overwhelmingly positive critical praise, is arguably more of the same from Spoon. “More of the same,” in this case, being a positive thing. It was something that worked for, not against the band, elevating They Want My Soul. Exhibiting anything but stagnancy, the album showcases all of the things that Spoon has done well in the past rolled into one impeccable package of sonic clarity.
This time around, Britt, Jim, Rob, Eric and Alex have perfected the indie-rock, pop-punk formula and are truly owning the fact that they know what their music should sound like, despite the ever changing, soul-sucking music industry standards telling musicians to sound the same. The first night of their tour showcased that this attitude shines through their live shows like a beacon, and Ithaca agreed. The crowd exuded an energy that coursed through the whole theater, jumping emphatically right through the encore, which closed with two songs from the 2007 hit, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga. The evening, in general, encapsulated the energy of They Want My Soul. It was a celebration of the fact that Spoon made 2014 what it was by embracing what originally got them to that point.
The night ended as most State Theater shows typically end, with the crowd collapsing out through the doors, lingering and chatting outside in a throng of exhaustion and happiness. There were unwavering sweaty smiles everywhere you looked. Eric Harvey casually walked through the crowd, almost unnoticed in his white t-shirt, and jovial smile. He looked like just another local to me, as I watched him mingle with the crowd, occasionally leaning in closer to someone to catch their name. From the scene that night it was difficult to tell that Harvey was one of the members of a band that had just dominated our local theater, and was about to dominate 2014. The only hints at stardom came from the buzzing marquee glowing above the crowd, the two tour buses parked at the curb, and the occasional autograph signing. Overall, in that moment, he was just another neighbor, an integral part of the Ithaca music scene, and the recipient of a happy homecoming.
Written by:
