One of the hardest parts about being a music fan is the cruel, torturous eons in between album releases from a band you love. Spoon fans recently had to endure a four year hiatus since the release of 2010’s “Transference” and as the months passed and piled on top of each other until they turned into a year, and then another, followed by a few more another Spoon album seemed like a pipe dream rather than a reality. The light at the end of the tunnel came in the form of an album announcement and a new single. But after four years, would the new album hold up? The last one was a slight disappointment. Should they just leave well enough alone? These were the thoughts I had a few months ago, as I tentatively listened to “Rent I Pay” for the first time. I breathed a sigh of relief when I immediately fell in love with the track. Everything would be okay. Spoon was back.
The weather was perfect on September 10th when Spoon took the stage at Rumsey Playfield in Central Park. There was a slight breeze and the rain that had been predicted the day before was obviously not going to come. The unbearable, muggy, Manhattan heat had started to subside and there was an electricity in the air thanks to rousing opening bands Operators and !!! (which by now you probably know is pronounced “chk chk chk”.) By the time Spoon took the stage the crowd was ready. They kicked off their set with “Knock Knock Knock” a track off their latest release “They Want My Soul”and immediately went into “Rent I Pay” which is just as much of a crowd pleaser as classics like “The Underdog” and “Don’t You Evah” despite being relatively new.
They played a good mixture of old and new covering most of the fan favorites from their expansive discography. At one point front man Britt Daniel asked what the crowd wanted to hear. A rousing chorus of “Everything Hits at Once!” came from the crowd (of which I, as a 23 year old female, was definitely not apart of the target demographic). Daniel smiled and nodded before launching into the track off 2001’s “Girls Can Tell.” They ended the set with their usual closer “Black Like Me” before coming out for a three song encore including “You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb”, “Outlier” and “The Underdog.”
They Want My Soul is the perfect album for the transition from Summer to Fall and will surely be on top album lists come the year’s end. If anyone had doubts about the band after “Transference”or the band’s four years of silence, then those doubts are long quelled. Spoon is back, baby. And they still got it.
Article by: Erin Browne
