Spiritualized
"Acoustic Mainlines" Tour
November 11, 2007
Bimbo's 365,
San Francisco, CA, USA
4060s > MMA6000 > R-09 (24/44.1)
Mics: HRTF, back of floor, directly FOB
Audacity: remove DC offset, amplify, adjust applause levels, convert to 16 bit
CD-Wave: split tracks
01 (entrance)
02 Sitting On Fire
03 Lord Let It Rain On Me
04 True Love Will Find You
05 Cool Waves
06 Amen
07 Going Down Slow
08 Feel So Sad
09 Soul On Fire
10 Walking With Jesus
11 Stop Your Crying
12 All Of My Tears
13 Baby I'm Just A Fool
14 Anything More > Ladies & Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space
15 Broken Heart
16 Think I'm In Love
17 (audience)
Encore
18 Lord Can You Hear Me
19 Oh Happy Day
http://www.spiritualized.co.uk/
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http://www.sfbg.com/blogs/music/2007/11/spiritualized_and_glad_about_i.html
"Spiritualized at Bimbo's - and glad about it"
By Todd Lavoie
Oh, I got me some religion Sunday night, Nov. 11, let me tell you: Spiritualized slipped into town for a stop on their North American “Acoustic Mainlines” tour, and the visit was nothing short of revelatory.
Playing to a full house (and perhaps the most attentive, appreciative crowd I’ve seen in eons, for that matter), Jason Pierce/Spaceman and his companions in post-millennial gospel may have never left their seats during the entire show, but that didn’t keep them from lifting us all into rarely realized states of bliss. And yes indeed, while we were all given chairs as well - and a Bimbo’s filled with candlelit tables always sets the tone for a perfect night out, as far as I can tell - I seriously doubt very many of us could say for certain that we were actually sitting down the entire time. I’m not even sure we remained earthbound, to be honest.
After all, this is the band who declared Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space (Arista) on the cover of their third album (and universally accepted masterpiece), so the idea of keeping so humdrummingly terrestrial for too long feels like a losing prospect. Don’t fight it - feel it, right? The thing is: up until now, Pierce and co. have mainly relied upon a decidedly rockist approach, fashioning dense layers of sound into narcotic-and-feedback-flavored sanctity.
Gospel, yes, but gospel by guys with amps and effects pedals and probably an intimate familiarity with the work of the MC5 or the Stooges, while we’re at it. Whether this tour is a one-off or an indication of a shift taking place for Pierce - my money’s on the latter, based on press materials I’ve come across - it became quickly apparent at Bimbo’s that this performance was going to be the furthest possible thing from the bulldozing sonic assault of their past few tours.
When I last saw Spiritualized in 2003, the positively Brontosaurial heaviness of all the competing guitars and synth, combined with a light show which bordered upon relentless, made for an enormously rapturous evening, but I must admit I’d left the hall with the faint regret of wishing I could hear the aching tenderness of Pierce’s pleas through all the squall. I’d always been infatuated with their ability on record to kick out the jams while still singing holy holy, but unfortunately at times their live shows might have sacrificed a bit of their so-crucial yearning in favor of an extra sheet of feedback.
Not so for this tour. As the name would imply, the Acoustic Mainlines version of Spiritualized sheds all that amped-out thickness and instead presents Pierce in an intimate, stripped-down setting which gives gorgeous focus on that disarmingly emotive voice of his. Accompanied by bandmate Doggen on occasionally Billy Preston-esque electric piano, a three-piece gospel choir, and a string quartet, Pierce at last had a sonic backdrop that didn’t threaten to overwhelm him. And how! His voice has never sounded better, switching from wounded and plaintive to incendiary without a hitch, all the while wrapping heaps of purpose and meaning to every single word so clearly, so urgently enunciated that night.
Pierce has always been able to belt it out when needed, but in past tours he’s often had to just to be heard in the tempest. In this setting, the man was able to truly shine, conveying lifetimes’ worth of joy and pain and devotion while strumming an acoustic guitar as if Bimbo’s were simply the classiest front porch on Earth. There he was, matched by Doggen’s deeply soulful piano thrusts to his right, and behind him sat seven beautiful women, adding sweet orchestral filigree and fervent backing vocals. As inspired as I was, I can only imagine how sparked he must have been.
“Cool Waves” - a highlight from Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space - generated the biggest hoots of appreciation early in the set, thanks to a particularly heartfelt reading that gave the powerful gospel trio some quality shine time. On paper, the lyrics might not carry as much weight, but much of Spiritualized’s vitality comes from the simple directness of lines such as “Cool waves wash over me / cool water running free / Lay your sweet hand on me / ‘cause I love you / love you / love you.” It’s all up the delivery, after all, and Pierce makes for an utterly convincing - if unlikely - soul singer, an observation certainly helped along by the three mighty impressive divas rising and falling behind him much like those titular waves he’s describing.
A passionate rip through “Walking with Jesus” - signature tune of Pierce’s previous band, Spacemen 3 - delivered a reminder that his soul and gospel roots extend quite deeply indeed. “Stop Your Crying” - a crowd fave from 2001’s Let It Come Down (Arista) - surged with a glowing majesty which could only have been improved if they’d included some of the studio version’s vaguely Phil Spector-like authoritative drum rolls. A hyper-miniscule nitpick, of course: I got by just fine by sticking ‘em in myself, tapping along on the table.
The title track from Ladies and Gentlemen - including that swoonable line, “All I want in life’s a little bit of love to take the pain away” - was given a touching rendering in the original, pre-scrapheap version, including the passages from Elvis’ immortal “I Can’t Help Falling in Love with You,” which Pierce was legally, er, convinced, to strike from the final recorded take. It’s a shame a deal was never worked out, as the pairing works marvelously, as evidenced by the number of Kleenexes fetched and eyes rubbed at the tables around me.
Just when the bar seems like it’s been risen as high as possible, Droggen whips out the harmonica and a spine-tingling hello is given to the same album’s “Broken Heart,” a sobbing piece of post-comedown gospel sometimes compared to Pink Floyd for its brooding, nearly-harrowing drama. Amid the wails of harmonica and the despairing tones of the choir, Pierce confesses: “And I’m wasted all the time / I’ve got drink you right off my mind / I’ve been told this will heal given time / Lord I have a broken heart.” Yes, it’s every flinch as potent as the words suggest, and for me remained the most strangely dazzling performance of the night.
But who wants to head home in too bummed-out a mood? Encore-time remedied that possibility of post-concert mopes with an invigorating take on Let it Come Down’s “Lord Can You Hear Me” and a sweeter-than-pecan pie fare-thee-well with the perennial gospel favorite, “Oh Happy Day.” Sure, another round of heartbreak might’ve been lurking just around the corner, but as Pierce left the stage, I could’ve sworn I caught the crack of a smile.
A new Spiritualized album is tentatively due out in the spring of next year; if this jaw-droppingly beautiful performance was any indication, methinks we are in for quite a treat.