This message bored was for REM fans. I had been a huge REM fan and still was, but I had been part of this online community since it was formed in 1999 and my involvement with it had evolved past just REM fandom (I actually began ignoring the REM aspect of it; it was, honestly, early social networking). When I lived in the middle of nowhere, this community helped keep me sane. This online community of REM fans were music fans in general. A post about wanting new music? A CD chain was started. At least three people began regularly sending me CD mixes of their favorite music in addition to music they thought I'd like based on what they knew about me. (And these people knew me fairly well. They were--and some of them still are--friends "in real life.")
One person, K, the one who I was probably closest to and who is still a part of my life (and whose wedding I attended a year ago), sent me a mic of Austin-based bands. There were several things that really struck me, but the one that really got me? Spoon's Everything Hit at Once. I loved this song because of the opening lines: "Don't say a word / cause the last one's still stinging." In a few words a mood is set and you know exactly what is happening.
When I hear it now, I may as well be sitting on the bus in Madison, headphones on, eyes closed, just listening.
Shortly after this, K sent me a mix of just Spoon songs. And in no time I had bought their back catalog.
I was hooked.
Spoon is a band that you can hear their progression as musicians. You can hear them getting better, tighter. They play rock-and-roll and they do it well. Girls Can Tell is their best albums. Hands down. It starts with Everything Hits at Once. It also includes Fitted Shirt and Chicago at Night. It's fucking great.
Their next album, Kill the Moonlight is just as good. And the next (Gimme Fiction), also good. Many didn't like their earlier recordings (Telephono and Series of Sneaks). Don't listen to them. They're rough but good. Also, they have a new album coming out next week (They Want My Soul) that I preordered months ago. From the singles I've heard so far, it will be fucking great.
But this post isn't about Spoon and their discography or how fucking great they are. If you're interested in more, see Dan Kois' great Where to Start with Spoon? over at Slate. Or his feature on the band in the New York Times Magazine.
But this isn't a post about my love of Spoon or that fact that I would totally stalk Brit Daniel. Seriously. I adore him.
This is a post about how after all these years of loving them, I finally saw them live. Finally. In the front row (because that's how I roll). In Vegas. It was dumb luck that they were there the same time as I was. They were playing three shows and I would be there for two. I went to one and almost went back for the third (but went to dinner with friends instead). I went by myself which isn't something I like to do, but goddammit, I wanted to see them. And if I missed them knowing they were a block from my hotel, I'd never forgive myself.
It was so fucking worth it. I wish I had a setlist. Actually, I did, but I left it in my hotel room. But they did Fitted Shirt, but they didn't do Everything Hits at Once. Brit Daniel was lovely in all his big-earedness. There was a group women from Texas right behind me (I suspect they were librarians) who kept screaming.
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| Spoon! Brit Daniel! |
And as I was standing there, waiting for the show to start, all I could think about was being in library school, living in an awesome town, my friend K and our growing friendship... and, well, being at a point in my life where I was starting over again. Spoon, and a few other bands, will always be the soundtrack to that part of my life. And what an awesome soundtrack it is.
The quality isn't great because I took it on my phone and I was moving.
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