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Live Review
by SashaS
12-10-2001
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| Lost in sound |
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Live: Spiritualized
Hammersmith Apollo, London
Thursday, October 11, 2001
Spiritualized's show has a purity of vision to lead you out after being lost in sounds
This gig was very, very nearly cancelled or postponed because the mainman Jason Pierce was suffering with a dental abscess which he had cleared and then his jaw anaesthetised. Well, bow in reverence because not only he did perform but also it was a fantastic show!
It was a musical event and with such superb lightshow that equalled the musicians and often threatened to surpass their concentrated effort. It was a show to sooth all troubled souls, its array suiting every mood. From fragile passages to sonic explosions, crescendo endings and anthemic range, this was a journey into sound and beyond.
Promoting the ‘Let It Come Down’ album, unjustly slated on a site by a collegue but you have to respect the 1st Amendment, the army of guitarists front a troupe of players that includes horn section as well as five backing vocalists. This is a magnum-sized show to deliver grandiose music, at moments as bombastic as Pink Floyd in their prime day, diverting into atmo-rock to put Radiohead to shame and flirting with pop element Pulp would kill for (produced by legendary Scott Walker or not).
Standing side-stage Pierce dispels stories of rampant ego, spread by former (fired) band members mostly, leading the band in a very confident and spectacular performance. Without wasting time to chat to the auditorium, deadpan vocals deliver messages about another dimension; politely seated fans erupt occasionally with deafening enthusiasm.
Songs of the single ‘Stop Your Crying’ calibre takes us tripping the sonic fantastic. ‘Electricity’, ‘Born Never Asked’, ‘’Take Your Time’, ‘No God Only Religion’, add to the feeling of the Spacemen 3’s title ‘Take Me To The Other Side’. Multicoloured technodream woven of sonic strands that makes you think of rock music as art, a thought one hasn’t dared in a long time.
There are different modern ‘religions’, be it shopping, clubbing, or pure musical enjoyment… Tonight, this was a cathedral for these thousands. Divine, simply and frankly.
SashaS
12-10-2001
Spiritualized ‘Let It Come Down’ is out now on Spaceman/Arista
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