Spiritualized in Los Angeles (or, out and about with mousepod)

[mousepod]

All right. Just back from the show. Wow. It was exactly as I had expected yet still blew my mind. The show was held in the Vista Theater, which, during its restoration had every other row of seats removed. For the Spiritualized show, they replaced the empty rows with folding chairs, which were naturally taller than the permanent seats, so given the choice of comfy seats or seats with a good view, we chose the latter.

The opening act, Simple Kid, was charming and with a short set (6 songs), he presented his sound without overstaying his welcome.

Spiritualized tonight consisted of Jason (of course, since he's the only constant in the band) on vocals and acoustic guitar, Doggen on electric piano, a string quartet and a three voice gospel choir. All nine performers remained seated throughout the show, with Jason and Doggen facing each other (and wearing the ubiquitous sunglasses) - so J performed the entire show in profile. Other than the lyrics to the songs, there was nothing else said, no "Hello LA"s, no "thank yous", nada. Without the droning wall of sound that Jason tends to bring to his rock concerts, this show was pure and simple unadulterated bliss. The theater was packed with appreciative fans, and the energy in the room made the almost two hours fly by.
They're playing again tomorrow night - and if there's any way you can make it, you will certainly not regret it.

Here's a one-song sample of the tour that's been floating around the web recently. It's an audience recording from almost a year ago (November 24, 2006), but it should give you an idea of what you can expect.

Spiritualized