damn.
How disappointing.
They were just boring as hell.

Now, I love the couple of albums that I have of theirs, but on ACL every damn song pretty much sounded the same and the band (especially Britt) just came off as... annoying.

As much as I like that band and as much as those who have seen them live have raved, I expected a LOT more from, them.

Anyone else see the show?
Agree with me or think I'm crazy?

I know that FT is gonna check in... so tell me my friends, what is the deal?

Awesome band on record, but usually boring band live. I never care to see them again. Not sure what their deal is live...

I saw them in '01 shortly after Girls Can Tell was released, and I thought it was alright. Nothing great but not horrendous either.

I saw that episode too, and wanted so badly to love it. But it was just kind of meh...

The same goes for the Guided By Voices Austin City Limits episode. Maybe it's the way the show is recorded. Maybe PBS takes all the excitement out of the recording just because it's PBS.

in a word...YES.

Saw them at the 40 Watt in Athens in 01 I think and was pretty impressed. They didn't make much of a 'crowd connection' (no stage banter; staring at the back wall, etc) but they did rock.

I remember seeing Flaming Lips live around the same time and them kicking ass... then saw them on some HBO show and they sucked it up.

Maybe the rock n' rollers are just 'fraid of the cameras.

I thought the performance was pretty good; but see I already covered that in this thread.

I've seen Spoon in person 4 times, and they were fantastic 3 of those times (the 4th was at Coachella last year, it was nearly midnight at the end of a long weekend, and I just wasn't into it).

I'd say it's definitely a different experience actuallly being there vs. watching a live concert on TV---can't really compare.

I'd say give 'em a chance seeing them live at a small club, in person (I'm seeing them for the fifth time tonight in SLC).

I saw them touring for KTM in a small venue and it was totally awesome. I raved about it to anyone who would listen. Then this year I managed to corral a shitload of friends to go see them at a much bigger room - and, yeh, it was a little, um, static. Not bad, but definitely disappointing.

Then I read an interview with Britt Daniel, and he referred to that first gig I saw as "one of the top three, maybe the best, Spoon shows ever." He said something like he "didn't know why, but it was like a combination big rock show/ stand-up comedy event - something was just in the air." So there you have it: Spoon, like any great band, is inconsistent. The magic isn't always gonna be there (and can't always be there). But there's at least the chance for magic, which is more than most bands can offer.

I wasn't much impressed with Spoon's live show either which is a shame because I love their albums.

I didn't see the show, but I've actually come to feel this way about the band after 6 months with Gimme Fiction. Aside from a few great songs, they're really not all that interesting, and even can be just plain annoying. But the songs that are good are great. Not enough to invest too much in the band personally, however. I'll wait for a best-of to care again.

Well, they did say on their outro interview that they try to make their live set a bit different from the album. That aside, it was semi-disappointing but the first time I had ever seen them perform. The thing that bothered me the most was how they ended their songs...sorta sounded like they didn't know how to end them. It was neat see M. Ward with them even if for just a song. I mean it wasn't that he was super impressive bending notes but he sure got into it and I was like, 'hey that's M. Ward on PBS, cool'.

I still love Gimme Fiction and it is still one of my favorites for this year.

psttthhh you are all crazy. they have never failed to disappoint me live. see them play in an intimate setting and you'll definitely change your mind.

***insert joke about how Spoon's handle is like the bandname, etc etc***

I saw them at the ACL fest and I have to say I was not expecting them to be like that live. I didn't think they were horrible or anything but I just thought they'd be more corky and clever like on their CDs. Instead, they were just down to business and didn't really bring anything new.

i have seen spoon live once + saw their other show on acl. both of which i thought were good and NOT boring. i just tivo'd this new one (w/ the killers) - i can't imagine it being boring. maybe you want brit and the band to do coordinated punk jumps and whatnot....

Nah, man. It's an exceptionally lackluster performance. It was shot during this past year's SXSW and they looked & sounded drained. Plus, I'll bet they were still tweaking the material live. Pretty bad.

I've seen them twice - once in Austin 5-6 years ago and then this past tour in June. They rocked both times, the last show being the better of the two.

Britt has promised that on the next tour he'll wear a football helmet and get Jim Eno to bash on it, 'cuz apparently that's what the kids want these days.

Nice, BR--getting the tangential Arcade Fire back-handed slam into another thread. Pretty slick.