SPIRITUALIZED at the Phoenix, Saturday, May 5. Rating: NNNN
Even though Spiritualized tweak their live show fairly frequently, the UK space rock legends have been a consistently good live band over the years.
Whether doing it with acoustic guitars, choirs and string sections or with a stage full of synths, guitarists and lasers, the impact on the audience is surprisingly similar and effective.
Without moving much or talking to the audience, band leader and only constant member Jason Pierce aka J. Spaceman creates hypnotic pulsing walls of sound.
On this tour, with a more stripped down approach, Pierce acheived that less with guitar effect pedals and electronics and more with arrangements themselves, making great use of the female backing vocalists.
There’s a small subsection of bands that managed to define themselves by fairly narrow parameters early on, and then spend the rest of their careers finding the endless variations within those limits.
Just like you wouldn’t want a band like Motörhead to suddenly reinvent themselves, there’s no reason for Spiritualized to change things up that dramatically. In this case, it’s more a case of refining a very effective idea than it is about mindless repetition.
Read my interview with J. Spaceman here.
