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4.03.2008You Got No Fear of the Uptown Theater...
 That's why it will not survive! Once again, I attend a concert at the Uptown Theater in downtown Kansas City. And, once again, the sound sucks. I'd rather see the best band in the world mixed by a blind chimp in a closet than go to a show at the Uptown ever again. Every sound man that visits mistakes this small theater for an arena and completely screws the great bands that play there. Last night the victim was Spoon. Beyond their technical problems onstage, their sound man turned them into a washed-out sonic nightmare of feedback, echo, hiss and static. I know how bad the sound at the Uptown can be. I've actually played there. My instinct says that Larry Sells, Uptown owner, decided to install a huge sound system in his small theater. Why do it right when you can do it big, right? After all, the real money in owning a historic building comes from renting it out for office parties, receptions and seminars... not concerts. Yet, good bands still play the Uptown, and I have been forced to go there. But after last night, no more!Spoon: The Uptown Theater 4/2/08 I can honestly say that I was not an early fan of Spoon. Only three of their albums, Girls Can Tell, Gimme Fiction and their latest Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, have left me anything more than lukewarm. For the longest time, Twisted Wife would say, "You want to go see Spoon? They're in Lawrence tonight." Of course, this question would come right after I was all comfortable on the couch watching The Bachelor. And we all know how Twisted Jim loves hisself some Bachelor! Last night, I finally gave into the urge to go see Britt Daniel and company. If you know nothing about Spoon, know this. They are very good songwriters, and, thankfully, that cuts it for this band. They don't come out and put on a show, and they were a little bit off as musicians last night. I'll cut them a little bit of slack since they were playing at the Uptown (see above) and they were experiencing some technical difficulties. But all in all, this seemed like a tour warm-up show... not the "victory lap" it was billed as. Enough of the bad, let's talk about the good. Comedian Greg Behrendt used to do a bit about rock shows for people over 30. His idea was that musicians should put on two shows at every venue. One for those under 30 that started at 9:00, has three opening bands and ends well after midnight. The other show would be for those of us over 30. It would start at 7:00, the headliner would come out and play their hits and everyone would be home before 10:00. The show last night was almost a perfect mixture, two mediocre opening bands, half the hits and I was home by 11:00. So close, but just short of perfect. As for the songs, they played great renditions of The Underdog (sans horns), I Summon You, You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb, I Turn My Camera On, Lines in the Suit and The Fitted Shirt. They left out a few of my favorites like Believing is Art and The Two Sides of Monsieur Valentine but I haven't been to a show yet where the band played everything I wanted to hear. After sleeping on it, the show was good enough to receive two rock fingers... but I'll throw in the third because hometown hero Rob Pope is now on bass. 
posted by Jim at 11:04 PM
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