Yes, we have declared this week Spoon Week.  But because Arcade Fire had the common sense to have Spoon open for them Tuesday night in San Diego, we will toss off our brief review of Arcade Fire’s show Monday night at the Santa Barbara Bowl.  What can we say about the near universally-loved Arcade Fire that hasn’t been said better before?  Practically zilch.  We are, however, gluttons for marginalia–so off we go.  Again.

Montreal’s Arcade Fire brought their big-top, confetti-cannoned, Barnum & Bailey production to the Santa Barbara Bowl Monday, and throughout there was joy in Sandville.  While we had caught them in 2010 on the Suburbs Tour, we had all waited, seemingly forever, for band and Bowl to stop flirting and finally hook-up.  At last it was unveiled that one of the great live bands would grace our hallowed Santa Barbara Bowl, and there was ecstasy amongst both the cognoscenti and throng.

Anticipation was high on Monday, and many gathered early for the show and were treated to talented and entertaining opening sets from Owen Pallet and Dan Deacon.  But finally it was showtime for the main attraction, and Arcade Fire and their bobbleheaded brigade hit the stage, opening with a curious cover of the Dead Kennedy’s California Uber Alles, the 1980 attack (of sorts) on then-governor Jerry Brown (replete with Win Butler’s Jerry Brown mask–see below).  What goes around comes around, eh?  At song’s end Win Butler properly taunted the half-seated audience to get up out of their seats, and the crowd obliged.  And the band proceeded to pound its way through a series of Reflektor songs, interspersed with confetti and ribbon, and Funeral’s riling Neighborhood #3 (Power Out) and Month of May.  All of the Reflektor songs of course reflect far better live (the Clash/Big Audio Dynamite homage Flashbulb Eyes in particular stood out), but the set really took off when the band downshifted to play the subtly-majestic sounds of the Suburbs.  And thereafter it was a mix of new and old, dominated by rockers (with the needed respite of Ocean of Noise) and capped-off with their much-sung anthems.  And more confetti.  It was a tour de force from a band that has achieved legendary status for their live performances (mention their April Coachella set to any who attended and they will immediately glaze-up in euphoria).  Though Win Butler was the focal point for much of the show, Régine Chassagne added immensely throughout the night with her smiling charm and magnetism, and all 90 members of the entourage performed admirably, each on multiple instruments.  The Bowl crowd ate up and sang back the chill-inducing anthems that set Arcade Fire apart, and especially the older anthems Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels), No Cars Go and, of course, their standard night-ending, magnum-opus, Wake Up.  With the crowd singing along fervently and in unison, these Arcade anthems easily fulfilled all expectations and justified the love of the band.

Minor quibble: between the big production and total numbers of people on stage the show can come off as a bit impersonal (the “Arcade Fire Machine“) and perfunctory at times (of course they are at the tail end of their international tour, which never helps).  The band could perhaps connect better with the audience and evince more personality if they performed a song or two where only a few players participated and they focused more on their superb lyrics.  But this minor quibble aside, they are one of our best live bands extant.  Many loved the big production, stage design and artistry, so who are we to quibble?  Then again, that is what we do.

The setlist is at very bottom.

Photos courtesy of Greg Lawler (below unless marked “TW”) and Tad Wagner (above and below where indicated with “TW”).

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Lefort:

In these attention-deficit days during which pixels and pronouncements fly by un-apprehended, four years can be a millennium in the life of a rock ‘n roll band.  So forgive us if we had briefly forgotten the importance of the band Spoon.  They are simply one of the great (indie) rock bands extant and have been so for 20 years (we’ve been fans since we first caught them opening for Guided By Voices in SF in 1996).  It had been four years since they released their last proper album, but this week the band finally dropped its outstanding new, Dave Fridmann produced album They Want My Soul (you can buy it HERE).  The new album was well worth the wait and deserves your undivided attention.

Spoon is out on tour now in support of the new album (check the dates HERE), including what should be one of the LA shows of the year this Friday at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery (sold out, though tickets are available at the usual sources–just be aware that if you buy second-hand tickets, you will not get in at HFC unless you go in with the original purchaser that has ID).  They also played the Tonight Show on Monday and opened for Arcade Fire in San Diego last night.

For those that can’t make the HFC show or other dates on their tour, we thankfully have the nine-song, in-studio set to view below via KEXP.  During the set, the band mixes it up with a few superb songs off of They Want My Soul and some older songs.  Superb performances all, with their trademark guitar-crunch (Gang of Four-influenced), and smirks and snarls.  The setlist is below.  Enjoy.

Knock Knock Knock
Rent I Pay
Who Makes Your Money
Rhthm & Soul
The Ghost of You Lingers
Rainy Taxi
Small Stakes
Metal Detektor
Got Nuffin

While we were attending Arcade Fire’s Santa Barbara Bowl show last night (more on that later), the splendid Spoon was appearing on The Tonight Show (for fortunate San Diegans, Spoon will open tonight for Arcade Fire in SD).  The band today released it’s fantastic new album They Want My Soul.  Watch below as Spoon performs their single Do You (which  reminds of Broken Social Scene, and especially on the recording–high praise from these parts).  And Britt Daniels gets his snarl on.  Thankfully.

Update:  The Tonight Show has now released a clear highlight from the show as a web-exclusive.  Watch as Britt Daniels and Eric Harvey sit back-to-back on a piano bench and give an intimate and moving performance of the outstanding Inside Out off the new album.  A great new song from Daniels and the boys.

Spoon is out on tour now in California and beyond.  Go there HERE.

Mavis Staples can do no wrong in our book, whether it’s rehearsing The Weight with Wilco or otherwise.  Check out below the official video for Public Enemy’s Chuck D’s outstanding new song Give We The Pride off of his new album, The Black in Man, which you can buy HERE.  Watch/listen below as Chuck D throws back hard and Mavis does what Mavis does.  Great new cut.  Check it out.

Son Lux is essentially Ryan Lott, a classically-trained musician and composer who has written music for various projects.  But beginning in 2008 Lott also began to release music under his nom de paix, Son Lux.  In all candor, we somewhat missed the boat on Son Lux until recently when Lott collaborated with Sufjan Stevens and Serengeti on the worthy Sisyphus project.  Prior to Sisyphus, Son Lux released Lanterns last year, and many believe it his/their best collection of songs yet. The album featured the likes of The Antlers’ Peter Silberman, mandolin virtuoso Chris Thile, DM Stith, and others.

Fast forward to this week when Son Lux released the inspirational and affecting official video for the album’s Lanterns Lit, which you can watch below.  The video was directed and produced by SJ Finlay who writes this about the video:  “This music video was made while shooting a short film to help children at risk in South East Asia. To keep updated about the release of that film and the project, search for #ChildrenofChange.”  The song and video are perfectly matched.

Afterwards, watch a sensational solo-piano rendering of the same song for Soundcheck.  As you will hear, Lott’s perfect siren-singing makes his collaborations with the similar-sounding Sufjan Stevens and Peter Silberman make even more sense.  The song and performance are beauty defined.

You can buy Lanterns HERE.