Ladies and Gentlemen, We Are Floating in Space — Spiritualized and The Dirtbombs

July 29, 2008 by Sexy Fitsum  Send to a Friend

I saw Spiritualized for the first time last friday at a show that was everything I hoped it would be. The sound was heeeyuge and lush. The light show was uncomplicated and sweet. Colored girls on background went “doot doo doot doo doot doot doot doot, etc“. But first, the openers.

The Dirtbombs are a garage rock band from Detroit. I’d never heard of em, nor was I aware until about 11 minutes ago that ol’ Pete had interviewed them for BYT just last spring. Nonetheless their music was about as remarkable as asphalt. I couldn’t imagine even bothering to torrent their mp3’s let alone going to a store and consciously exchanging money for their CDs or whatever. However their average sounding tunes were made up for with an (let’s see…) intriguing stage presence and a manner of performing their rock and roll that you could call ‘genuinely classic’. Like the vast bounty of “Oh” faces and some sort verbal high-fiving while jamming out that you’d imagine old timey rock bands like The ‘Stones or The Yardbirds used to do. The ends of songs were punctuated by donkey kicks or fist pumps. I’m pretty sure I have a picture of someone playing the guitar behind their head. Lead singer and guitarist Mick is a big bounty-hounter lookin’ black guy with permanent cartoon race driver face. See what I mean?. Maybe his name is Jerry. Haha. No. The other guitartist was a teeny tiny woman who’d alternately rock out and stare blankly at he ceiling or stage left. Weirder still, she finger-picked her Fender Jaguar, even during her solos. In the middle of the last song, one of the two drummers set up his drum kit in the middle of the floor and played Dan Deacon-style surrounded by a rabid throng of pumping fists and banging heads.

Someone yelled “Play a song about drugs!” as the members of Spirituallized’s touring band walked on stage about 45 minutes after The Dirtbombs cleared out. Others just kept braying “Jaaaaaaaaaay” for leader J. Spaceman, ex of Spacemen 3 and bearer of a very very cool stage name. S+’s setlist alternated between two types of sound. There were looooong long sheets of fuzzy high-reverb garage that sounded like it was being made in a massive high-ceilinged space. The others, my favorite, sounded like permutations of Pink Floyd’s “Breathe” and “Eclipse”. More than a few people I talked to were felt a whiff of “Dark Side Of The Moon” in those languid, oozy joints, which could have easily been influenced by Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois collabs (who recorded “The Unforgettable Fire” and are currently working on U2’s next joint) except for the backup singers and their awesome fly-like-an-eagle long-note harmonies.

» Here’s the complete photoset

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