LIVE REVIEW: Spoon + Deerhunter @ Fox Oakland 4/13/2010

photo by Mike Rosati

Two of my all time favorite bands on the same night, under one roof?! I mad dogged my contact for months for this show. I can’t remember anticipating a show more: the closing end of the Spoon/Deerhunter super tour. Love was in the air between the bands and the crowd.

photo by Mike Rosati

When Spoon broke into “Before Destruction,” it became clear that their studio tricks translated well live, and songs like “Who Makes Your Money” (with a guest appearance on guitar by Bradford Cox), “Is Love Forever?,” and “Nobody Gets Me but You” sounded better than they do on the record. Spoon is so easy to like. Even when they are experimenting and making some pretty weird music, their pop foundation makes it fun and accessible. “My Mathematical Mind” twisted and turned, with guitars breaking in from unexpected places. “Everything Hits at Once” featured a Brit Daniels howling “I Summon You” brought the house down, as did the cover of Wolf Parade’s “Modern World.” The encore really had the people moving with “The Underdog,” “I turn My Camera On,” and “Cherry Bomb.” It was an effortless hour and a half set.

Deerhunter is a very different band than Spoon, but no less brilliant or compromising. Challenging to the point of frustration one moment, making shockingly beautiful pop music the next, Bradford Cox and the boys are a bit of an enigma. It’s part of what makes them so beloved by their fans. They wound up to “Cryptograms” to start the set, stretched out “Never saw it Coming”, and transformed “Disappearing Ink” into a 10 minute epic set closer with cameos from Spoon’s Rob Pope and Jim Eno. As the band was ripping, Bradford started talking about the absurdity of death and the value of friendship. It was really poignant, actually. Then he decided to crowd surf as he played his tambourine. Embraces were shared as the bands left the stage and you could feel the fondness and respect between the two groups.