Spiritualized @ Rickshaw Theatre
I think my ears are still ringing.
Last night at the Rickshaw Theatre, Spiritualized once again managed to overcome pretty high expectations. While the show didn’t quite reach the heights of a show in Sydney I saw a few years ago, I was still impressed with Spiritualized’s ability to unleash such transcendent music in a live setting.
Joined on stage by four other musicians as well as two backup singers, Jason Pierce led the band through a pretty extensive tour through the Spiritualized catalogue (easy to do when you’re on stage for two hours and twenty minutes) with surprisingly little material from the new record Sweet Heart, Sweet Light (well, five songs is less than I was expecting, anyway). The band, as always, alternated between being locked together (the sultry groove of I Am What I Am) and totally cacophonous (the insane madness of Cop Shoot Cop).
Of the new material, I Am What I Am was really impressive – I LOVE the back and forth between Jason and backing singers (reminiscent of I Think I’m In Love) and, as previously mentioned, the groove is just fantastic. Mary, another new one, was also pretty impressive and featured Jason belting out lyrics with more passion than I’ve ever seen from him on stage before.
Walking With Jesus was another great moment as I’ve never heard such a long version of that song before. I was kind of disappointed that Lay Back In The Sun was dropped from the set a few weeks back but I was so happy to hear Stay With Me which, despite seeing the band live since 1998, I had never seen live. It was even more epic than I was expecting.
The band largely stayed away from SPZ’s earlier, spacier material but the Pure Phase double hit of Born Never Asked/Electric Mainline signaled the set’s transition from kinda slow (a couple politely received Amazing Grace tracks) to mind-altering. And packing in Ladies And Gentlemen, Come Together, and Cop Shoot Cop into the final portion of a set never hurts. Enthralling as always. And you expect nothing less from Spiritualized.
Setlist
Hey Jane
Lord Let It Rain On Me
Headin’ For The Top Now
Walking With Jesus
Oh Baby
Rated X
Born Never Asked
Electric Mainline
Soul On Fire
I Am What I Am
Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space
Mary
Stay With Me
She Kissed Me (It Felt Like A Hit)
Come Together
———
So Long You Pretty Thing
Cop Shoot Cop…
December 22nd, 2012 21:25
[...] It Comes blended right into Hey Jane from this year’s excellent Sweet Heart, Sweet Light. Back in May when I saw the band early in the tour I remember Hey Jane being a lot more fierce but I enjoyed it nonetheless. In [...]