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I'm jealous
Heading in, Built to Spill's show last night at Irving Plaza felt pretty gratuitous. They didn't have a new album to promote (that comes in September), I'd seen them a few times before, and things have been so hectic lately that a night off would have done me well. Of course, all of that got thrown out the window by the third song of their set. It ended up being the best Built to Spill show I've seen, with an absolute dream of a setlist.
As excessive as it may have felt, I knew beforehand that I'd enjoy the show. BTS are an excellent live band, better than on album IMO, and I've loved every show of theirs I've seen with one exception - the Ancient Melodies tour, and that was the album's fault more than the band's. They're incredibly (yet unassumingly) tight on stage and invariably jam away on most songs, usually with an extra guitarist in the mix freeing up Doug Martsch to go nuts. With the songwriting also being diverse enough to avoid things getting samey, their shows are dependably satisfying, and they always toss in some gems.
Last night stood out instantly when the band came out five strong - two extra guitarists instead of just one, the first time I'd seen that. They started slow though, warming up with tepid versions of "In Your Mind" and "Distopian Dream Girl." The latter is one of my absolute fave BTS songs, it completely caught me off-guard - but the extra guitars hurt. "DDG" is all about hearing the edges on Martsch's playing, and the denser sound covered that up. From that point on though, it was pure gold - they played so many great songs! "The Plan," "Velvet Waltz," "I Would Hurt A Fly," "Sidewalk," "Big Dipper" (when the crowd went crazy), and "Built to Spill" all rocked. The band was on fire, roaring through the changes while still sounding loose. Near the end, I told my friend it'd be a perfect setlist if they ended with "Carry The Zero." Which, of course, they did! Then, before the encore, I told him the only thing left on my wish list was "Stop the Show." And what'd they encore with? "Stop the Show."
They didn't play much new stuff - just one or two songs, I think, along with a new Caustic Resin song sung by the extra guitarist. Still, this show came out of nowhere to remind me how much I love this band's catalog. I wasn't into the last album, but hopefully the new one will show it to be just a hiccup. Either way, the band just loves to play live, and I'll always have the shows to look forward to.
Two more somewhat fuzzy pictures are after the jump...