Spoon - First Ave. - 10/10/07

Ahh Spoon. You never let me down. You have been so good to Minneapolis. You even did two shows this time! We went to the 21+ show last night at First Ave. Spoon was great as usual. They have always been good at mixing up their set list with old and new. This time wasn’t any different. The interesting thing on that note is that everything they played up until the encore was in chronological order based on album. They started their set out with a couple tracks from my favorite (and arguably best) album A Series of Sneaks - Utilitarian and Minor Tough. Britt showed off his classic coolness with his subtle swaggers and playful glances at individual audience members. Continuing on with the set, they broke out a few selections from Girls Can Tell - Fitted Shirt (this song never gets old in concert) and Anything You Want.





In between songs, Britt bantered with the crowd a bit, at one point he even mentioned how much Spoon loves playing Minneapolis from the 7th Street Entry to the 400 Bar (hooray!) and finally to First Ave. The show continued with Small Stakes, The Way We Get By (OC fans unite!), Stay Don't Go, and Vittorio E from Kill The Moonlight. Missing from these selections was Jonathan Fisk, unfortunately. It was at this point that I began to notice the chronological sequence, and that there had yet to be a song played from their brand new album. That was OK with me, though, as many of their older songs succeed in a live setting a bit more than many of the newer songs. That being said, My Mathematical Mind from Gimme Fiction was one of the highlights of the evening.





After a few songs from Gimme Fiction, the crowed roared as many finally got to hear what they came for - The Underdog. While the songs off the new album were enjoyable enough, The Underdog and You Got Yer Cherrybomb were lacking some pizzazz without the horn section. Nevertheless, everybody danced and sang along to the new tunes. The show was not over though, as the guys came back for an encore and played even more old tunes - the fairly obscure Chips and Dip from one of their EPs, another classic from Girls Can Tell - Me and Bean, and finished 'er up with a rocking rendition of Quincy Punk Episode. All older songs! They treated their true fans well. Afterwards we hung around in the hopes that we could share a few cheers with the band, and got to meet and thank Britt for a great show. We even got a picture. Have I mentioned what a cool guy he is?