SPOON opening for
GUIDED BY VOICES at the
Opera House, April 25. Tickets: $18.50.
Attendance: 850 (sold out). Rating:
NNN
Rating: NNNNN
standing near the front of the stage in a comfortably airy Opera House watching fab Austin pop combo Spoon try to connect with the distracted bodies at the back of the club was mildly disheartening. Guided by Voices fans are a dedicated lot, and the almost feral howls that went up as the headliners rambled onstage an hour later made it clear that any extra music for the price of admission was deemed a mixed blessing.
But then, Spoon — a band that’s kicked around the fringes of the alt-rock scene for nearly a decade — knew what they were getting into taking the gig. Besides, the lukewarm reaction had negligible impact on singer/guitarist Britt Daniel. He just played. And while the group itself lacked animation, Daniel’s acidic lyrics, juxtaposed against the sweetness of his songs, ensured that Spoon stuff flew into the cerebral hard drives of those paying them mind.
By the time a revved and ready Bob Pollard hit the boards, the place exploded, the listlessness of the evening history as Guided by Voices lobbed an endless stream of shoulda-been-hits at the swarm up front. Pollard, alive to the max and fully upright, pounded through the show like it was his last. Not bloody likely.
