Finding the right balance of consistency and new direction is likely an ongoing challenge for any band, especially for those that succeed for not just a few years but across decades.
Yet for almost 30 years and across 10 studio albums, Spoon has honed its sound to thrilling and gratifying effect, creating fresh material and choosing lesser-known covers to bring out the best and most distinct features of the band while artfully strutting along an alluring and familiar path.
The Austin-born outfit paid an extended visit to the nation’s capital last week, kicking it off Wednesday evening with a sold-out show at The Atlantis before delivering back-to-back performances around the corner at 9:30 Club on Thursday and Friday night.
Out in support of Lucifer On The Sofa, Spoon dazzled the new 450-person space on Sept. 13 with an explosive setlist spanning the catalogue and emphasizing the band’s most recent complete record, which dropped last February and became its first to be nominated for a Grammy.
Listen to Spoon’s tenth and Grammy nominated studio album, Lucifer On The Sofa, via Spotify:
Spoon has for all its existence featured Britt Daniel on lead vocals and guitar and Jim Eno on drums, a fruitful relationship on the stage and in the studio, and the spirit of these two seasoned musicians sparks the band and decks it as a wildly unique brand of indie rock with influences that are hard to place even for the longest tenured followers.
Branching off in their own directions — Daniel as a solo artist, Eno as a producer and a microchip designer — the two have kept Spoon on its trajectory while managing a few personnel changes over the years. The current lineup hears Spoon sound as polished and fervent as ever, and it features additional gnarly musicians in the form of Alex Fischel on keys and guitar, Gerardo Larios on guitar and keys and Ben Trokan on bass.
Daniel, an impassioned and gripping vocalist, fascinated the two-story venue as the band pulled its first two songs from Lucifer on the Sofa, “Held” — originally written by Bill Callahan — and “Wild,” the second single off the album and a lasting, glorious example of Spoon at its finest.
The night provided a healthy and colorful sampling of the band’s work, including widely celebrated hits like “I Turn My Camera On” from 2001’s Girls Can Tell but digging in deeper with songs like “The Mystery Zone” from 2010’s Transference and “Do I Have To Talk You Into It” from Hot Thoughts in 2017.
Listen to Spoon’s latest EP, Memory Dust, via Spotify:
Spoon is no stranger to Washington, DC, or the IMP venues, having performed on special occasions in the past, including an unforgettable two-night run at 9:30 Club to close out the year that was 2017.
Gearing up for another two-night go at the V Street venue located just next door, last Wednesday’s performance only provided further support to the notion proposed by various music media outlets over the years: that Spoon is indeed one of the most trustworthy and essential American rock bands of all time.
Setlist
Held (Smog)
Wild
Utilitarian
I Turn My Camera On
Everything Hits At Once
Anticipation
My Babe
I Summon You
The Mystery Zone
Got Nuffin
Lucifer On The Sofa
Rent I Pay
Don’t You Ever (The Natural History)
My Mathematical Mind
Do I Have To Talk You Into It
TV Set (The Cramps)
Encore
The Hardest Cut
The Underdog
Nefarious
Inside Out
Jonathon Fish
Here are images of Spoon along with the night’s opening act, Concrete City out of Baltimore, performing at The Atlantis in DC the night of Sept. 13, 2023. All photos copyright and courtesy of Casey Ryan Vock.
Spoon
Concrete City
