62 –- Spoon –- Tuesday, March 23, 2010 –- 9:30 Club -– DC

So let’s start with good stuff:

They were not Arctic Monkeys. Two months earlier, Arctic Monkeys, another hip indie band I saw at the Club, had been a major disappointment. They thrashed where they should have driven, they drove where they should have strummed – it was not good. I also hated the fact that they said nothing to the audience – as if Americans wouldn’t be able to understand ‘British’ anyway, so why bother? Fortunately, Spoon knew how and when to power their instruments and at least made an attempt to acknowledge the crowd.

I was also glad I was able to familiarize myself with their albums beforehand. I’m surprised I was able to do this because I only started really listening to them two days before the show. I’d booked the tickets months earlier based on Mike Erickson and Chris Prickett’s high praise, but I didn’t remember the actual show until the last minute. Luckily I was able to cram four albums into that short time: Ga Ga Ga Ga, Gimme Fiction, Kill the Moonlight, and Transference. And I was able to come out with four songs that I genuinely liked: “Got Nuffin,” “You Gut Yr. Cherry Bomb,” “The Two Sides of Monsieur Valentine,” and “The Underdog.”

The overall problem with the band and the show, though, was that I could never go much beyond “like.” “Got Nuffin” had a nice Foo Fighters vibe, “Cherry Bomb” had a catchy chorus, “Monsieur Valentine” was an interesting character study, and “The Underdog” would boost the spirit of anyone listening to it, but in the end, there was nothing to really love. Spoon will remain on my iPod and serve as pleasant background music during a long grading session, but the chance of going to another Spoon concert….not likely.











Grade:C+