On a hot Tuesday night, the Fillmore was as packed as I’ve ever seen it. For the second stop of their co-headlining tour, Spoon and The Beths visited Philadelphia for a sold-out show. Both bands, currently between albums, crafted sets spanning each of their discographies.
The show was opened by Squirrel Flower, the solo project of Chicago-based musician Ella Williams. Her dreamy and engaging set included songs from previous releases, a cover of “Awful Bliss” by Guided By Voices, and cuts from her upcoming album, due out at the end of August.
The first of the headliners were The Beths, a jangly indie rock four-piece from New Zealand. They kicked off their set with “Straight Line Was A Lie,” the title track off their most recent album. “Knees Deep” “Little Death,” and “No Joy” were highlights for me. During “No Joy,” guitarist Jonathan Pearce and bassist Benjamin Sinclair used custom, pedal-activated launchers to shoot recorders into the air that they then caught and played. Unless anyone in the audience had ever been to a Beths show, there was a good chance they’d never seen anything like that before.
Spoon | by Samantha Blyn for Zany Waves
Spoon | by Samantha Blyn for Zany Waves
Spoon | by Samantha Blyn for Zany Waves
The venue already looked full to me, but by the time Spoon was up, you could hardly move. Opening with “Take A Walk,” the band swaggered onstage and confidently showed the audience what kind of night they were in for. The crowd was dancing and singing along to every song, and was delighted to hear the unreleased track, “I Wanna Lose Control.”
The band was incredibly tight throughout the show, but also felt very rock and roll. Spoon are clearly seasoned performers, each member seeming to anticipate each other’s next move. But that’s what allowed for the spontaneity: extended solos, swapping instruments, and feeding off each other’s and the crowd’s energy the entire time. For a band currently working on their eleventh studio album, Spoon’s performance felt fresh, exciting, and anticipatory of the new record.
